Thursday, June 25, 2020

Global Deaths Due to Various Causes and COVID-19 | Flourish

In case you thought Covid is a hoax. Or no worse than the flu.

Here's a great visualization.

https://app.flourish.studio/visualisation/2562261/


Short. Sweet. To the point. That's the beauty Dave's iPhone.

Wednesday, June 24, 2020

Editing mistake?

This is the headline that appeared on cbs sports news feed.

And the article changes the pic once you open it.

Note: not the same player.

Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Absurdity in the face of a pandemic

Disney announced their re-opening plans, and people went crazy.  Yay, the magic!  Yay, vacation!

Never mind that the world (quite literally in some cases) is burning.  That there are still social issues.  That we have a large disconnect among people (between masks, and science, and politics).  Its a wonder we're still functioning.

And then there's still this little thing called Covid-19, that no amount of "wishing away" will make a difference.  People are still getting infected, and dying.  And transmission rates are still high.

And Florida's case numbers are GROWING daily.

But by all means, lets forget about that!

Disneys vacation club properties opened yesterday, meaning that there are people staying at the resorts. For better or worse, its kind of back to business.

And maybe it bothered me more than it should have, but bloggers started showing up to "report" on the reopening. Because they want to get out, or be first, or be a part of it, or maybe because they want to feel normal too?

And then Disney opened the reservation system for theme parks.

A couple of things I observed:

1. It crashed.

2. People started complaining about an inability to book more than three days of theme parks - in spite of booking multiple trips spanning multiple days for the rest of the year and early next year (why? Just why?) and some have noticed that it's all subject to change and there are various factors in whether they can get a reservation at all.

3.  For reasons I don't quite get, the reservations people got were for "the whole day" rather than some sort of timed entry. So I can imagine the crowd for park opening will be stupid.

4. I keep reading about people assuming it's business as usual once these theme parks get open. I can't wait to see what happens when they find out how it's really going to go.

5  Disney has stated that many/most rides will be open with various capacity constraints and operational changes as needed.  And this is all subject to change at any time.  Which I find complicates #4.

6. Hollywood Studios filled to its capacity (whatever that is) on the first day its open. I would assume because of the Star Wars ride.

Let me be clear about something.  Disney opened for financial reasons.  They could only trade on their brand for so long, and they had some big loans that they have to cover.  The decision to re-open (while complicated by factors with the state and DVC) was strictly about money.

And people wanting to visit are just being stupid.  There.  I said it.

Why would you stay in a hotel and be around a lot of people. 

Surely this can't end as well as anyone would like.  And yeah, there is a need to get to business.  But, is this smart? I guess so, because people started booking vacations.

Anyway, good luck. And here's to hoping that they don't have to shut down again.





Treason? Really?

Trump has been railing about "Obamagate" for a while now.

Yesterday, he decided to tell us what the supposed "crimes" Obama committed while in office might have been.

He repeated the same word three times.

"Treason"


The Constitution has a specific definition for the word: "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort."

That and only that. President Obama never levied war nor gave aid or comfort to our enemies. 

However, in stating that Obama did this, Trump is guilty of levying a false accusation of unsurpassed gravity and guilty of violating his oath of office, specifically,  to protect and defend Article III, which defines treason.

That's right, in levying a false (and unsubstantiated) claim against his predecessor, he is guilty of a high crime that should have him removed from office.

His words have meaning, and the senate should hold up their oath of office, and hold him to account for using such salacious words. 

And yet they will simply shrug it off as "Trump being Trump"....all the while they were breathless and rabid about Obama's coffee cup salute that was the single most egregious thing ever!

And one might argue that Trump is projecting his own treason (he has arguably aided enemies).

Saturday, June 20, 2020

Stop the insanity!

I feel like every day is a new day in stupidity when it comes to trump and the gop. Their continued assault on us and our rights is nothing short of breathtaking.

But the one thing that gets me right now is the stupidity around wearing a mask. Why people argue about this is beyond me. There is one simple way to slow the spread of the virus: wear a freaking mask. It's not hard, and while it may be annoying, it shouldn't really be up for debate.

But of course it is.

Meanwhile in Florida, several counties have enacted mask orders. It's a way to keep the population safe. And there's one gop state representative who has decided this is a bad idea and is suing the counties that enacted them, citing "invasion of privacy"...which is kind of the opposite of what you hear when they talk about Muslims and the burka and how you don't know who's behind the veil.

Anyway, I suspect he doesn't understand what privacy is, exactly. And I'm not sure, as a member of the state house, that he has standing to sue the counties. But who the heck knows anymore.

Florida man, at his finest.