Incompetence at the Top

Cases in the USA

The CDC reports that as of 1:00 PM today there are 374, 329 cases of Covid-19 in the USA. (Bear in mind that these are confirmed cases. Actual number of cases is probably much higher.)

Deaths so far: 12,064.

A month ago we had 279 cases in the USA.

Arkansas has 915 cases so far. Eight of those are in my county.

Stay well, y'all.

What Do You Have to Lose?

Trump's going to start touting forsythia next.



More here.

Key section is several paragraphs in, where the high "success" rate of Trump's snake oil drug is explained -- those doing the study only included people who were cured in the study. Not cured by the drug, necessarily -- just people who got better, as most people who contract Covid-19 do get better.

It's like the person who stepped outside their house every morning and shook their anti-tiger charm in every direction. Hey, they never got tigers, right? So the charm must be 100% effective!

What have you got to lose?

Here is

...at least one reason why electives and core classes are so important:

about a year ago at this point the teacher of my intro to bio anthropology class i was taking for a credit said "now you don't want to hear about all 20 of these varieties of extinct hominins" and i thought "NO BUT I DO" and then next semester i changed my major

— datefriend time @ one of these days 💖💛💙 (@jasperlizard) April 7, 2020

Stay Home, People

Cat Picture

Here's Jasper during the pandemic:

What Are We Doing at the End of the World?

My kid is having a hard time doing school work because, as he puts it, the world is ending.

I can relate. I'm having a hard time finishing my stupid novel (I have literally one scene left to write and I cannot write it), though the good news, I guess, is that I'm well up on my academic work because I use that as a way to kill time while I'm not writing the stupid novel.

We're also cooking a lot here. I am hunting for the perfect hush puppy recipe, and meanwhile cooking all the old favorites -- tuna casserole, chicken enchiladas, pancakes, stir fry, bagels, banana pudding, Dutch babies... every now and then the kid will say remember X? Remember how you used to cook X? Could we have X?



So I make X.

If you haven't read Naomi Kritzer's "So Much Cooking," now is the perfect time. It's about a woman running a food blog during a pandemic. Both wonderful and apropos.

I'm also reading so much. The public library letting us do curb-side pickups is keeping me in books, at least so far. I just started Emily St. John Mandel's new book, The Glass Hotel, which would normally be a seven-day book but which, thanks to the quarantine, I can apparently keep indefinitely. (In actual fact, though the return date on all my books is "whenevs," I can only have 25 out at a time, so I have to bring some back to get new ones.)

Emily St. John Mandel wrote Station Eleven, an excellent book about a pandemic and the world after the pandemic. I should do a post strictly on pandemic books.

I'm also listening to podcasts, which I never did before. My main ones are NPR's Science Friday and the BBC's book club. I listen at night, while I'm too tired to do anything else, and do jigsaw puzzled at the same time.

Long walks with the dog and the kid help keep me sane. The parks here are still open, and everyone keeps their distance. Also sometimes I just walk the neighborhood, though we don't have sidewalks, which given how busy some of the streets are around here (even now) makes that less enjoyable than it might be.

Also I sleep very late, though not as late as the kid does.

Also it's almost Passover. Even though we won't be able to have our usual tableful of guests -- our favorite part of Passover -- we're still looking forward to it, and getting ready for it. Dr. Skull is making chicken soup for the matzo ball soup, and we're planning the menu -- chicken and asparagus so far, plus a KFP cake which Dr. Skull has promised he will make.

What are all y'all doing?

Ya Get What Ya Pay For

I’m in love with the Spanish biologist who pressed by media why it was taking her so long to find a cure for Coronovirus. She responded – ‘you give athletes €1 million a month salary and biologists €1800 a month – go ask Cristiano Ronaldo to go find you a cure.’ Enough said.

— Andrew Melchior (@melchiormelch) April 3, 2020

Pandemic Update

According to the CDC, there are now 277, 205 cases in the USA, with 6, 593 deaths. UPDATE: Over 300, 000 cases as of 6:00 p.m.; over 8000 deaths.

That doesn't count the cases (like that of one of my co-workers) who have almost certainly got the disease, but who have not been tested, because we don't have enough tests; or the very mild cases which are being treated at home, and again not tested (because no tests).

A month ago we had 98 cases in the USA, just for comparison. A week ago we had 68, 440 cases.

And yet: we still have Covid-Denialists spreading lies and ignorance, and plenty of those who are determined to believe the lies.

Also, I see our incompetent president is, once again, pushing quack cures. I expect him to start touting forsythia as a treatment any moment.

(Here's an anecdote to ignorance, or at least a palate cleanser.)

Oh, and Rod takes a break from his attempts to be sane to screech about how persecuted Christians are, one more time.

Here in the delagar household, we're doing okay. No one is sick yet, everyone is keeping themselves engaged, almost all the work is getting done. I still hate on-line teaching, but I'm getting a little better at it.

Trump the Incompetent

I remember being both appalled and deeply upset when Trump won the election.

This wasn't because I "hated" Trump, or "hated" conservatives.

It wasn't because I was "deranged."

It's because I knew -- like millions of other Americans knew -- that Trump was incompetent, that he knew nothing about how to run a government, and that if any sort of crisis came along, he would fuck it up.

And here we are.

How are the MAGA-Americans handling this? Or those who have been brainwashed by Fox News?

Denial and conspiracy theories. Nonsense and lies. Also, absolute bullshit.

Business as usual, in other words.

It wouldn't matter -- they're fools and idiots, and we could ignore them -- except we're all in this boat together.

1) Dude I occasionally chat with when walking dogs started on "doctors would close the country for two years" and "it's just old people dying, we're overreacting" and I told him to go fuck himself at top volume in a public park, so maybe I'm not as cool about this as I thought.

— John Rogers (@jonrog1) April 3, 2020

Sunnymede Walking Trail

This is a view of the tiny waterfall on the trail where I take my evening walks with the dog.

The trail is called Sunnymede Walking Trail, and it runs along the Arkansas River, about a mile and a half from my house.

When I first started walking there, no one was ever there but me. It was great, frankly. Canada geese hang out in the river and in a big concave depression in the center field, so it would be just me and the dog and about a hundred geese, all yelling at us in outrage.

Since the pandemic, though, more and more people are using the park -- desperate to get out of the house for even an hour, I suspect.

Here's another view:



That's from the top of a small slope overlooking the river.

And here's a better view of the waterfall:



The little dog loves the waterfall. He leaps right in and swims around.

If I couldn't go for a walk at this park every day, I would lose my rag a lot more than I already am.

Another view of the waterfall:

Yikes

The mammoth US unemployment claims in their historical context. pic.twitter.com/UNDwhBMpZt

— Ben Riley-Smith (@benrileysmith) April 2, 2020

This will cheer you up tho

Day 12 Coronavirus lockdown, the movie, UP 🎈 pic.twitter.com/HLH8JdlAOs

— Carlos (@_sweet_bread) April 2, 2020

$$$ in the Pandemic

Here in the delagar household we are (so far) doing all right so far as income goes.

I am still getting paid, and Dr. Skull, who filed for unemployment, heard back from the Labor Board yesterday, saying he would get 40% of his salary. Not much, but enough to squeak through.

According to what I have read, that 40% will be supplemented by extra income for the next few months. That would help a lot.

Of course, we still have all the medical debt from my long illness (I am fine now!), but I will just pay the minimum on that until we see how the world goes.

How are all y'all doing?

The Academy in the Pandemic

We've moved as a university to pass/fail for student classes.

Sort of, anyway -- we give the students grades and then the students get to decide whether to keep these grades, changed them to P/F, or withdraw from the class entirely.

I kind of like this, and think maybe we should do it always, not just during the pandemic.

What do y'all think?

Poetry for the Plague Years

It is said that a town
in Wales
is now ruled by
wild goats.

How idyllic that seems
to we
who are ruled by
venal asses.

— Plague Poems (@PlaguePoems) April 1, 2020

When the first whiff of smoke
was detected
we remained
in our seats

As the scent grew
some of us
muttered
but were swiftly
quieted

When the air visibly
darkened
most believed it would
soon dissipate

Now here we sit
in a theater ablaze
wondering
how this movie
will end

— Plague Poems (@PlaguePoems) March 27, 2020