Older readers will surely recall being taught as children the importance of being prepared for the various emergencies that are a part of life. Before the usual suspects destroyed the Boy Scouts, preparedness was a central part of the Scout ethos. People used to regularly make sure they had things like candles and matches in the house. Every equinox we were told that it is a good time to check batteries, test out flashlights and portable radios, as part of general preparedness.
Being prepared fell out of fashion over the last few decades, as technology made the supply chain a marvel of timeliness. In a world where you can order something on-line and have it the next day, being prepared takes on a different meaning. Today, a weather event means having the latest games on the Xbox and your watch-list ready for a day of video entertainment. In modern America, emergencies are an excuse to have a party and enjoy the emergency unfold on television.
This is probably why some people panic and buy ridiculous things like toilet paper and bottled water before storms and now before the plague. The emergency triggers something in people. The items they buy are symbolic. At some level, people know they are dependent on a system that they don’t understand very well, or trust all that much, to be there when it counts. The panic buying is a reaction to the sudden reminder that we are not as prepared to make it very long on our own.
Putting that aside, people need to be prepared for what will unfold over the next weeks or longer, depending upon how the virus spreads. One thing you should do is get to know your neighbors. Most people have limited contact with their neighbors, as most moved from somewhere else. Take this opportunity to introduce yourself to the other people in the neighborhood. Give them your contact information. Simply being a good example like this does a lot to prepare for what’s coming.
Here’s the thing. If the alarmist are right, Netflix will not be available, because the stack or bodies outside the cable company offices will keep the techs from entering the building and keeping the grid running. Playing cards with the neighbors will suddenly have real meaning in your life. Even if this is not the zombie apocalypse, taking the opportunity to build a little community with the people around you will do more for our people than a million lectures from activists.
For young guys, take this opportunity to call the old people in your life. You will quickly realize the internet banter about the “Boomer Remover” is childish when you start checking in on the older folks. You’ll learn the joys and being a man and what it means to be responsible. The first duty of every man is to protect the vulnerable. Old people, women, kids, they are your duty. Now is a good time to practice that habit. You’ll find that it is the greatest gift you can give yourself.
Sadly, the generations of plenty means we have an unsightly build-up of maladapted mutants¹ in our ranks. Everyone has a nutty wine aunt or screeching AWFL² in their life these days. These people don’t get better under stress. In fact, they will seem worse, because your patience for them will be lower. Since we are not allowed to burn them at the stake just yet, you need to plan for them. Remember, they feed on your irritation, so the plan must be designed to starve them of what they crave.
There’s also the fact that many high functioning maladapted mutants will go haywire during this crisis. Remember back to the 2000 election. Think about how that sort of loopy liberal person in your life suddenly turned into a lunatic. That election triggered something in these mutants that sent them around the bend. The 2016 election made many people in our lives so unpleasant we had to cut them off. The mutant is most volatile in times of high social stress and uncertainty.
That means you have to be prepared for some people in your life revealing themselves to be totally bonkers. The social media ghettos are already full of mutants hoping Trump gets the coronavirus. They will no doubt be going on about how Orange Man made the virus situation worse by doing something or not doing something, as the case may be. Remember, you are not good to anyone if you are sidetracked by these crazy people in your life. Prepare for a mutant outbreak.
Now, to help with that, here’s a bit of good news on that front. Maladapted people, like that AWFL in your office, tend to be lower in overall fitness. Their numbers are mostly a product of good times. That means they will be more vulnerable to this virus than normal people. Think about it, these people tend to be sick more often in general, so nature is probably going to clean up the mess in aisle crazy for us. At least it is pleasant thought, as you prepare for the zombie apocalypse.
Finally, prepare for that moment when you heard someone use the phrase “flatten the curve” for the six millionth time. Ritualized recitation of popular incantations are a part of modern life, but they will get really bad in this crisis. At some point, you’re going to hear “slow the spread” one too many times and the fist will instinctively ball up. The counter to this is to unplug from the media. They are useless anyway. The first duty of the prepared is to keep their wits about them.
²Affluent White Female Liberal
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Remember the merchants and people that are currently taking advantage of this situation. Price gougers and fear mongers. When power was out in the 80’s here during the summer we all repaid the store that charged $20 for ice. He didn’t last long.
They aren’t price gouging. They are part of the market indicating necessary pricing. /sarcasm
This is from the same people that told us that shipping everything to China was a smart move.
To be fair, sometimes it costs a lot of money to bring something scarce to market. Like if a region runs out of something and the regular logistics aren’t working, it might cost way more than normal to get the good. Sometimes the oil pumping stations go down and there are gas shortages and the only way to get the gas is to truck it in, which costs a lot of money and then consumers complain about the higher prices. Or water in a disaster area. It costs a lot of energy to bring that bottled water into a disaster… Read more »
Did you happen to see the guy who went through multiple states buying up all the hand sanitizer, was banned from selling it through Amazon and Ebay, and thought it was a good idea to complain about it to the NYT? Some people . . .
“Ban “price gouging” (otherwise known as “market pricing’), and you won’t have any market at all. And you will be shocked and amazed and have no idea why that happened.” – top post on Insty about the guys.
Some people of have no clue and mindlessly worship at the market altar.
It’s one thing to buy up generators that aren’t being used and spend lots of money and time to drive them into a natural disaster area. It’s another thing to take advantage of panic to profiteer by hoarding.
Buying generators and transporting them to a disaster zone to resell is fine. Doing that and then charging ridiculous prices is not.
Doing that with critical items is a good way to get worked over with a hammer or a tire iron.
People who do that are incurring large bills to do it. That is why they have to be sold for much. They have to drive around to a bunch of stores and buy them and then drive all the way to the disaster area and have to eat on the road and probably stay at least one or two nights in a hotel. Once they get there, people there are going to offer more money. There will be a bidding war if there are multiple people where you are selling them.
My daughter legitimately ran low on TP and baby wipes and tried to get some online. IMS, she wound up paying over $60 for a single roll of that 12″+ diameter roll commercial TP. I thought Amazon had controls in place to prevent price gouging like that. It would appear otherwise.
HailMaryBidet:
https://www.google.com/search?q=sports+bottle+curved+straw&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwiD0_2SiJ3oAhUvuFkKHTHOAuoQ2-cCegQIABAC&oq=sports+bottle+curved+straw&gs_l=mobile-gws-wiz-img.3…12233.17266..18120…0.0..0.246.1200.10j2j1……0….1………0j0i5i30j0i24j33i299j30i10j33i10.AC6__hrxqU0&ei=w21uXsPlKq_w5gKxnIvQDg&prmd=sinv#imgrc=1i4-Y4ehBI1qYM
If the grocers had done a little price gouging on toilet paper the shelves wouldn’t be as empty. Seems like people love the free market only until free market principles kick in. Just sayin’.
Most stores kicked in with limiting the amount you could purchase.
Thanks for donating your Sunday morning to post an article. A day without Zman is like a day without sunshine. Agree 100% with your sentiments.
Never let a good apocalypse go to waste!
I’d like to think that this epidemic will cull the herd, but I fear that only a few thousand sick, old people (I’m in the old, but not the sick category) will die. Then it will be back to business as usual and within a few months, this will be forgotten.
Yes.
It’s Climate Change on fast-forward. The Danish PM just put me in hock for $6,000 to prop up Danish employers, the total amounting to a fifth of the Danish GDP. That’s a pretty deep trough, not to mention that in a few weeks, the banks will start buying up assets at rock bottom prices.
The Western countries are fat and rich from generations of labor, but now it’s time to butcher the golden goose. In six months, we’ll all be speaking Jewish.
In America we already do but don’t realize it. All that talk about capitalism and socialism, the city life, the dollar chasing, everything for sale, the neurotic focus on healthcare and therapy, gynocracy, etc.
Or Jews are just exemplary of all that, I can’t decide. All I know is it’s an insane asylum.
I think so too but per Z’s post a couple of days ago this is a preview of coming attractions. Let’s use the ‘calm before the storm’ to get ready. We’re getting a useful look at what the future troubles will be.
The problem is that the precedent has now been set for a society-wide shutdown every time one of these viruses comes along.
We’ll be seeing this show on repeat in the years to come.
It won’t, the economy isn’t like a water faucet you can turn on and off. China hasn’t even gotten it’s factories back on line. The trains that ship Chinese goods from Long Beach harbor to the rest of the U.S. haven’t been running for 4wee very weel ow. I used to hear one inter-modal train come by about every hour. Not anymore. Same with the trains goingLos Angeles.Every week this situation continues it means factories laying off workers and shutting down lines. This all has consequences. What China and our dependency on them showed was how fragile globalization is and… Read more »
What is the worst n word you can call a black person? Neighbor.
Mine advised me one day that I was the worst racist she ever met. She’s a retired elementary school teacher and I asked her a question about an incident I experienced that – to me – indicated a high degree in indoctrination in our public schools. Race never entered into anything I asked her.
Did I mention her ancestors came from the “dark Continent”?
One wonders whether demographics is being considered in the projected death tolls.
The ratios on total-infected per fatality (based on China CDC numbers) for COVID-19 by age follow:
80 and older ….. 7
50-something … 77
40-something … 250
10-39 ………….. 500
http://www.talkstats.com/threads/wanted-rational-coronavirus-analysis.74951/
A point I keep making is that Italy is really old. It also has a huge Chinese migrant population at the center of their outbreak.
Take Italy out of the mix and we have SARS.
It’s puzzling, isn’t it? For a universal virus, you’d expect Africa, Central/South America, and India to get hammered. That doesn’t seem to be the case though. At least not yet.
There is reported heavy infection in Africa but even mass casualties would go unnoticed as everything can kill you in that slaughterhouse of a continent.
They are also a lot of young people with robust immune systems so the casualty rate will be low.
On the cases-per-fatality rate, you’d think that the American healthcare system would be able to improve on the Chinese rates — such as 7 cases/death in over-80s — since we spend some 17X more on healthcare-per-person than the Chinese ($10.2K vs $605, c.2018), and have such open and free communication here in the States.
You’d think. Wouldn’t you?
We spend more — as you noted — on the “healthcare system,” not the “patient care” system. Once healthcare was financialized and the stockholders’ returns became paramount it was all over. It’s easy to find the rate of growth of administrators v. providers. Medicine ought to have been the one sector immune from financialization. Healthy people don’t need it often enough to make it profitable and the price destroys sick people (who are often taken advantage of when they are least able.)
In Taiwan on business. On another day we’ll take up the infuriating subject of how you have to go hat in hand to East Asia if you want to manufacture any kind of physical object. Just want to point out that there has been no panic here. No empty shelves, no fighting over toilet paper. The government has set up a system of rationing masks and hand spray. Your temperature is taken at a number of big stores and government buildings. Things function normally. Infections are low, about 50 cases and 1 death. I could point out the obvious virtues… Read more »
Of course, there’s the interesting subject of why Taiwan is so orderly, and why China, where the virus started in the first place, is such a mess, despite the two countries sharing a racial and civilizational background.
But I’m just a lowly merchant, not a sociologist, ha. My armchair theory is that size itself dissipates social trust. China is just too big to cohere.
You have a point. Here in the US, I feel a bit more affinity for my State and the West in general than say the East coast. But obviously, the East coast more than say Canada.
What’s the adage… Me against my brother, my brother and I against my cousin, my brother and I and my cousin against all others…
Paul – I find myself feeling a twinge of jealousy for countries like Taiwan, SK, Japan, etc. Just to not be incessantly confronted with the diversity. And their endless demands. I have nothing personal against any group of people – it’s just what Derbyshire says: a little salt in the stew is perfect. But endless amounts destroys the stew. I miss feeling like a people. I miss the celebration of European arts and music. Or the traditional American spirit. I’m a dreamer I know but what I wouldn’t give to turn the clock back. Way back.
I talked a while back of my intention to retire in Taiwan. I know that doesn’t sit well with many here, and I understand why. I won’t argue their points, but this is the trajectory my life is currently on. One overwhelming reason why the idea of retiring there becomes increasingly attractive to me is that with one fell swoop the tax disappears from my life. Here in my upstate, rust belt city, the old way of life has been thoroughly dynamited. I was at mass this morning and whereas the church was SRO in my youth, there were maybe… Read more »
Great column.
We should signal boost the panic mongering, make people appreciate their primary social networks more.
Absolutely. Normie does not think, normie is only afraid. Let the word “corona” be the new razizz.. This time we say the normie scaring magic word to get things done.
My wife finally put her Facebook on ‘pause’ today. I’m hoping it’s permanent. We’re going to a neighbor kid’s birthday party today. Our neighborhood, even though its one of those ‘synthetic’ ones Z rails against (named after the farm that was torn down to build it), does have lots of women that glue the (real life) social network together.
It’s exceedingly hard for me to imagine living in a world in which my wife is glued to Facebook, or some other form of “social media,” and I have no other say-so in the matter than ‘I hope her putting it on pause is permanent.’ Or, in other words, ‘I hope my wife’s temporarily coming to her better senses under extreme circumstances translates to her permanently coming to her better senses under “normal” circumstances.’ Hope in one hand, and sh*T in the other, bro, and see which hand comes out the winner in all of that, best I can tell… Read more »
Beginning to see your point. There needs to be a source of stability. The weaker partner will inevitable gravitate toward it. Personally, I note that I attract the most attention when the discussion lately has moved to preparedness wrt home quarantine and supplies. What was once laughed at and even ridiculed, now attracts absolute attention as I point to where such supplies are and how they can be used and how long such will last. Not just food/water, but communications, lighting, solar power, money, and such. Hell, even the dogs have an emergency supply of “Purina”.
Good advice Zman. The panic will be the most dangerous thing we face. Walter Williams used to call the “black leadership” — Poverty Pimps. I think we now have Panic Pimps causing havoc around the country. The Wife was sick in bed for 3 days — and could not believe what had happened by the time she was up yesterday. Crazy people doing crazy things she cried. I will make a prediction that I know many here will not agree with; but we can disagree here can we not? I predict that the corona virus will cause less death than… Read more »
Yep. I agree with that analysis. Saw a video yesterday with a doctor who claims to cite the latest stat’s on the seasonal flu, 45M infected, 40k or so deaths and the season is not over.
I tend to agree with this, but I don’t have enough information to come to anything close to a firm conclusion. That’s the frustrating part of living in this age, the more information I have, the less I trust.
“…sixth millionth time.”
ISWYDT
Gorrilinth….
The virus is a fraud (higher contagiousness with a mortality rate of the flu) but societal panic to it is not. It will be interesting to see how our just-in-time distribution system, with very little reserves (reserves cut down profit maximization), will or will not cope with people “self-isolating” in their homes for week, driving down consumption enormously, and how the stock market, with its historically high amount of debt and the highest PE ratio of all time (https://www.multpl.com/shiller-pe ) will react to it. My concern is a cascade effect where we are basically willing a Great Depression 2.0 into… Read more »
To me, the most surreal aspect of this situation is how the US has collectively decided to euthanize its entire economy with barely a whimper of protest. Is it because there is some mass realization that asset prices are far too high and air needs to be let out of the bubble? Totally agree about the poor quality of the population. I was just at the grocery store picking up enough supplies for the next 10 to 14 days. The average person there was an aimless, chronically ill, decrepit, obese mess. They are not going to do well at the… Read more »
Yes, scary as wrt population quality. I am in that age bracket. I admit to bad thoughts on such as well. I’m scared because I look at them with horror and fear and in my worse moments I think “will that be me”, “how long before I become like them”, “how rude to even think such thoughts”, “who am I to judge”—but I can’t help it.
I ventured out to the gym this morning and was very pleasantly surprised. About half the people that there are normally – and far more of them were White or black. Almost all the Asians stayed home, same for the dot Indians. All the AWFLs were absent and all the LBFMs – about 75% male crowd. It was so much less stressful and I had no trouble using whatever I needed. I could easily get used to this.
“Willing a Great Depression 2.0 into existence…”. Yes. Though it was due anyway, given everything that has been going on for a while. This is simply the catalyst.
Well, writing from near the epicenter of the largest concentrated outbreak in the US, so has been interesting to watch this play out. First batch of cases within town boundaries came in last night. FB exploded. I monitor it just to keep on top of local situation. This is AFWL-burg so am down to exactly two neighbors of the same ilk. However, there is a small network of the like minded and we check in with each other regularly. Panic took hold over the last few days–very similar to what I saw during Sandy. These people are not well adapted… Read more »
WTF has happened to New Rochelle?
I lived there, near eastchester and north, in the early seventies; it seemed like such a nice place. lots of trees and open space, nice people, clean streets.
Zoning changes?, over-development?
It’s extremely unlikely that utilities such as power, water, internet will be widely disrupted. The WuFlu is, at worst, as bad as the Spanish flu of 1918. Even though about 30% of the US got infected and it had ~1% mortality, the economy hardly noticed and 1918 was a good year for the stock market. That pandemic targeted middle-aged people (I.e., working age) more that this one, which seems to have a very low mortality rate among people under 60. If it were to get so bad that internet service is disrupted, we’ve got much worse problems than Netflix being… Read more »
The Spanish flu was unique in the high mortality rates for young adults. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3734171/
Young adults were also unique at that time for spending the prior four years standing around ankle-deep in contaminated water in rat-infested holes in the ground and subsisting on potatoes and turnips in between the times they spent trying to kill each other. That’s why I’ve always thought it ridiculous to try and draw conclusions about pandemics today from the Spanish flu. Half the world at least was completely devastated after four years of destruction and deprivation and hardship. It’s no surprise that not many countries had the resources on hand to deal with flu outbreaks in 1918.
Absolutely. But it struck down that demographic regardless of whether they had served or been abroad. I don’t know (neither do most posters on most sites.) I do wish people would keep an open mind instead of doing the -up/-down vote crap social media promotes.
The reason the Spanish flu didn’t kill more because we were a rural country, long distance driving just did not happen, cars were in their infancy and outside of town or the cities, roads were just muddy tracks.People stayed put.
As bad as things may get during whatever course the WuFlu will take, once the worst is over the demands for gibs from the usual corners and the endless hissy-fits and demands from the AWFLs will make covid-19 seem mild in comparison. Many of the worst are toning it down a bit, taking a wait and see attitude…just in case. But once it’s past that’s when the real plague of endless demands and threats begins. Getting to know your neighbor and developing a relationship, even the start of one, may pay off when our leaders on behalf of the parasites… Read more »
Actually, as I remember throughout my life, power interruptions have caused more neighborly interaction than anything else I can remember—both in the large cities (NYC) and the local smaller bergs I’ve lived in. Folks seemed to get out of the home and walk the streets. We live in a world of electronic distractions I guess.
The fires in 2003 really brought our neighborhood together, what was left of it. Until the PTSD set in, and then things got a bit testy.
nig-nogs to the right of me, wine box ladies to the left of me. books and bullets in the middle. the box wine ladies get a pass. the nig-nogs ,well I’m sure there are plenty of new Orleans type jerk spices left on the shelfs just in case. I haven’t owned a tv in 15 years, don’t do the smart/dumb phone thing, got rid of Netflix when the dear white people show showed up a few years ago. so not really a stretch for me. I got a stand up old lady and no rug-rats or dogs to deal with.… Read more »
Most of the charts being presented in order to generate and support a panic, display exponential expansion, asymptotically approaching infinity. Very few things in nature exhibit such dynamic instability. Instead, sinusoidal behavior, often critically damped, is typically what happens when a previously stable system is disturbed. The sigma in today’s equation in the U.S. is probably at about 20 degrees. If one believes the reports from China, theirs is probably now at 60 degrees, though the exponent is of course much larger.
Men cannot entertain even an atom of fear. In times of crisis, women and children instinctually follow our example — whether they admit it or not.
Morning Z! Yep….you have a true following. So many of us turn to you for rationality and stability. We don’t feel so alone reading you in the morning. And you give us a rueful laugh. Okay….enough about toilet paper already. We should write odes to toilet paper in the time of pandemic. Is it a sign of first world civilisation that we obsess over?! That we don’t wish to be hurled into the void of Turd World sanitation. Think you’re right. And your point is…. Yet the level of security and satisfaction that Range and Basic Husband have the perspicacity… Read more »
Yes, Range Fault, that’s exactly what to do. Keep living, enjoy life. Wife and I are catching up on chores. Tomorrow is being prepared for, but that is not considered one of death, gloom, or whatever. It’s life. God’s will, not ours will see us through.
Well said.
Always love hearing from you, Range Front. Best to you and basic husband – keep well and congratulations on your health – I am totally jealous of your weight loss!
Been on a call with family back in the UK today. They personally know three people who have been diagnosed with the Wuhan Flu and all are critically ill or fighting for life. So that answers my question of whether this whole thing is bullsh*t or not.
Nobody sane thinks the virus is bullshit, it’s the projected scope and incessant panic mode of the media that is bs.
Anyway, we have 10 to 14 days before the supposed worst case scenarios manifest.
Unless you’re old or have a compromised immune system, it’s total bullshit.
A Field Report;
Fear not, for I bring you glad tidings of great joy. On our roads local log trucks are still picking up Poppel Logs* from the winter woods. Those log trucks are still driving to nearby paper mills. There those logs get made into, ….TP_!!!
Hallelujah, the TP supply chain lives_!
Z Man: My compliments on your nice lite, semi-humorous touch above.
___________
* Poppel is local for any sort of fast growing softwood.
You protect the neighbors/old people/vulnerable by NOT PLAYING CARDS WITH THE NEIGHBORS. Social distancing is how you slow this thing so the healthcare system can manage it without getting overwhelmed. That means canceling your spring dissident-conferencing plans. That means NOT inviting your friends or the neighbors over. That means limiting trips out of the house only for absolutely necessary things. Might be staying inside for a long while. When the uncertainty diminishes, you can always return to your normal lifestyle. Until that time, a conservative approach is prudent, and costs you nothing but inconvenience/discomfort/boredom. You lose practically nothing if this… Read more »
BFWTY. You take “playing cards with neighbors” too literally, and ignore the admonition to “protect the vulnerable” in Z-man’s post. You read your own fears into whatever is placed before you. I understand this. We are all human. But as has been talked about here in postings and commentary, is—as a great American once said, and other Americans of the time understood—“…all we need to fear, is fear itself…” Your call is basically for the reader to stay away from others, to cower in fear, to hunker down, to save his own ass. The modern euphemism is “disengage”. Z-man’s call… Read more »
I know this is hard to grasp, but “leading” in the present circumstance specifically calls for physically avoiding others. Sure, go be Captain America, but do it over the phone. Is that easy? No. Is it effective? Yes. In fairness the option to be a “protector” came and went about a month ago, when n95s, lysol wipes, etc. all sold out. If you’re healthy, you’re protecting the sick/vulnerable by NOT INFECTING THEM. Living your feel-good hero narrative – “interacting with likeminded individuals” is likely to adversely affect either the exposure or the prognosis of someone vulnerable you care about. Stop… Read more »
Yes, build community how you can. Our church did Facebook Sunday today. I am not on Facebook, but the Mrs. is, so we “went to church”. (BTW, I was impressed with Facebook’s potential for good, and for community-building. Too bad it is used for such malign things, and Z-berg has obviously sold out to the Chinese, which is a whole ‘nother thing). It was actually a very interesting way to come together for an hour. Given the need to quarantine for a while, “playing cards with the neighbors” has all sorts of real-world ways of doing it.
As I’ve said, This is, of course , the Orange Man’s doing. It destroyed Bernie’s candidacy. 1. Granda’s legacy will pay off the Student Loans of the whinging X’ers who accumulated six figure debt for their degree in Messican Lesbian Literature and the subsequent job at Starbucks- no taxpayer bailout. 2. The housing shortage is solved: They can move out of Mommy’s basement and into the newly vacant Retirement Villages. -No excuse to destroy affluent white suburbs by flooding them with high occupancy zoning codes . 3. No need to import a million Guats a year (plus dependents) to change… Read more »
As much as I enjoyed the content here just a few months ago, ZMan’s coverage of this panic is the best out there. Quietly taking steps to protect you and yours is a very prudent course of action, but we also can’t lose sight of how our culture has been consumed by the concept of crisis, of which this is the most egregious manifestation yet. Every politician, every “expert” out there is now the equivalent of the telegenic Kens and Barbies that stand out in a windy squall, insisting that this latest tropical storm is the most calamitous of all-time.… Read more »
Yes, the freak out has been turned up to eleven for a while…and now they found a way to get it to twelve.
Always interesting when specialists differ, either factually or in degree of alarm. Michael Osterholm, prominent public health, infectious disease expert, Univ. of Minn, on Rogan: “People say, ‘Wait a minute, flu kills a lot more people every year than Coronaviris does.’ And I’ll remind people that this is just the beginning…Our best guestimate is that Covid19 will be 10 to 15 times worse than the worst seasonal flu year we see.” 1:28 to 1:45 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3URhJx0NSw&t=1479s Jonathan Runstadler, Tufts Univ. infectious disease expert: “In some ways, COVID-19 has behaved similarly to the flu, though perhaps it’s a bit more contagious in… Read more »
The truth is we just don’t know. Not yet, anyway.
I posted a clip from Osterholm earlier this week – Z called its content scare-mongering and that’s what my instincts were as well.
These are the same government “scientists” who told us 15 years ago that the glaciers would all melt in 10 years, and now tell us that gender is a choice.
I don’t know, Osterholm has a lot of experience studying these things. In various interviews he does display some over-hype tendencies and ego-need for recognition. But he has serious background and has always been the opposite of PC on China. My view is to take in as much expert opinion as possible, and not be too quick to wave them off as mere charlatans.
I’m always a little taken aback when people say they don’t know their neighbors. We have one neighbor-from-hell but everyone else is really, really nice. We house/pet sit for each other all the time. Anyway, I’m self-quarantining because ever since I got gassed I’m susceptible to lung infections. So, does anyone have any podcasts or films they can recommend? (No politics, though, it’s just too depressing.)
My response to people going on about how terrible the covid-19 pandemic is/is going to be is to recite Vanderboegh’s Dictum.
“When in danger, or in doubt,
Run in circles;scream and shout!
Non-mutants and non-AWFLs get it and laugh. Those who don’t aren’t worth your time.
The grid never went down in Wuhan. I see no reason to believe it will here.
I know that control of freedom of association is a part of the whole alt-right zeitgeist. But I see no reason to give this liberty up for anything more than, say, a 3 month period.
From the ground. I live in California which has more mutants than Genosha. People here while buying lots of guns and ammo and the like are actually more pleasant than usual and behaving fairly soundly. I just see a lot of perplexed people and a lot of concern However stores are basically bereft of goods and this is a real problem as they aren’t being refilled. The same “just in time” systems are tied to lean manufacturing and one guy comes down with so much as the sniffles the factory gets shuttered and there is no surplus labor to make… Read more »
If none of that happens to near the degree you espouse, would it be ok if I revisited your post 4 months from now and called you “panicky”?
Spare a thought for your local neighborhood sex worker.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/covid-19-pandemic-crash-sex-worker-income
I live in a university town in the Upper Midwest. I went to the local SuperSaver on Thursday to pick-up a few items (primarily for my strategic beer reserve), and it was worse than the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Paper products were gone and so was bread, however, other items remained in full supply. I went to the SuperSaver this morning and most paper products had been re-stocked (although, you were limited in purchase amounts).
On the balance, it was orderly both times, but people were on edge. Hopefully, the worst has passed.
“nature is probably going to clean up the mess in aisle crazy for us”
Z sure can turn a phrase.
The Ed Dutton video is both perceptive and hilarious!
He’s a “hoot” as my ancestors would have said. 😉
Does The Woodpile Report presage the demise of Mrs Remus?
http://www.woodpilereport.com/
I hope the ladies will listen to Doctor Oz:
Dr. Oz on Coronavirus: “This Has been Around. A Lot of People Had This and Didn’t Realize It. 80% of People Had Very Subtle Symptoms”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/03/dr-oz-on-coronavirus-this-has-been-around-a-lot-of-people-had-this-and-didnt-realize-it-80-of-people-had-very-subtle-symptoms-video/
And the bad news keeps on coming?
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/mexico-mulls-shutting-northern-border-over-virus-spread-threat
Mexico closing their northern border is sure to set off a whole new bout of cog-dis amongst a bunch of people. Bring it on!
Check and compare the latest stats for the U.S. against the rest of the world especially total cases per million population.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/