Engaging Human Life,
The lovely low-rent-Permaculture, "downshifter's guide to the future" book, Retrosuburbia, which 560 pages I bought for $100 last year (worth it) is now available as online book for whatever-you-feel-is-right. Check it out!
Political speech takes many forms, and others can chime in. Important to watch this trend.
The Governor of Texas is watching, and took the side against his own edicts, after seeing how the wind blew. (I don't like him, but he's not stupid.)
Half million dollars of donations and counting...
Thousands Donate To GoFundMe For Jailed Salon Owner Who Stood Up To Judge In Viral VideoHe also presented data which gives an indication of an “Infected Fatality Rate” (IFR), eg. the percentage of people infected who will end up dying. New findings show a COVID-19 infection fatality rate of between 0.24 – 0.36% (as opposed to Neil Ferguson who claims the IFR to be just under 1%, perhaps 0.8-0.9%). Previous interviews with UnHerd, with experts like Johan Giesecke who believes the IFR is closer to 0.1%, or one in a thousand.
The difference between IFR is important, not least of all because this statistic will be used by governments to determine he relative severity of the threat in question.
https://21stcenturywire.com/2020/05/05/leading-german-virologist-covid-19-is-less-deadly-than-we-thought/
Contrary to impressions created in American media, Sweden’s approach to handling the pandemic has not been “relaxed,” but essentially the same as in other Western countries. This country of 10 million has been at least as preoccupied with the pandemic as other countries. Whether its approach has been as efficient remains to be seen. What may stand out as exceptional in the end is Sweden’s glaring lack of preparedness for a pandemic, especially for protecting its elderly, and that the dead are disproportionately recent immigrants.
While Sweden may not have ordered everyone into a total lockdown the people have largely done that by themselves simply out of fear.
President Donald Trump said Thursday that his staff will be tested daily for coronavirus after a Navy steward who has been in close proximity to him tested positive for the disease.
Trump said he knows the aide but has had "very little contact" with him. Still, he said, aides who have been tested weekly for coronavirus will now be given the test daily. Officials would not say whether Trump himself will be tested daily.
Moon of Alabama looks at the waves and flow of viral pandemic management over recent months, and their misrepresentation in the press.
The effect of virus-fighting efforts on the Swedish economy has been devastating. A very large number of small businesses have collapsed. All but essential industries closed down almost immediately and many face bankruptcy. People have been told to refrain from all non-essential travel. Virtually all air travel has been suspended. Unemployment figures are soaring. The opposition parties deem government counter-measures to be too little too late. Contrary to impressions created in American media, Sweden’s approach to handling the pandemic has not been “relaxed,” but essentially the same as in other Western countries. This country of 10 million has been at least as preoccupied with the pandemic as other countries. Whether its approach has been as efficient remains to be seen. What may stand out as exceptional in the end is Sweden’s glaring lack of preparedness for a pandemic, especially for protecting its elderly, and that the dead are disproportionately recent immigrants.
While Sweden may not have ordered everyone into a total lockdown the people have largely done that by themselves simply out of fear.
Trump said he knows the aide but has had "very little contact" with him. Still, he said, aides who have been tested weekly for coronavirus will now be given the test daily. Officials would not say whether Trump himself will be tested daily.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/05/07/coronavirus-white-house-worker-tests-positive-coronavirus/3087897001/
That program, whose name is 10 Billion Tree Tsunami, has been chugging along for the past two years, but it recently received an unexpected infusion of help from – of all things – the coronavirus. Many Pakistanis are suddenly unemployed, so the government has given them jobs as tree-planters. Unemployed day laborers have been turned into "jungle workers," planting saplings for 500 rupees a day ($3), which is roughly half of what a construction worker would normally earn. It's not a lot, but it's enough to get by...
Chinese clinical trial finds chloroquine phosphate safe and effective at full dose and half dose, and fewer side effects at half dose.
This is a really good 22 minute medical lecture on coronavirus attacking the blood vessel lining, the biochemical pathways, inflammation and damage to the endothelial lining of blood vessels, and activation of the clotting cascade. These are important mechanisms causing the heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure and blood clots in lungs that are modes of death and morbidity. Thanks Marjorie.
Coronavirus Pandemic Update 67: COVID-19 Blood Clots - Race, Blood Types, & Von Willebrand Factor
It's not just strip clubs and vast corporations qualifying for majic small business bailout money.
"These companies help advise and run the government"
SPEAKER PELOSI SUPPORTS PUSH FOR TAXPAYER BAILOUT OF CORPORATE LOBBYISTS
Weaponizing the dollar, especially Chinese Treasury holdings is difficult for China to do, despite looking superficially easy.
Here is good analysis from Ilargi at The Automatic Earth:
This weapon is more straightforward. Carries hypersonics and nuclear missiles.
China Readies Unveiling Of Stealth Nuclear Bomber Capable Of Reaching LA
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), based in Britain, reported that the number of mercenaries recruited by Turkey to fight in Libya had risen to about 11,000, including 261 killed in combat.
Gotta' wonder if we could do something like this in the US, maybe even paying more...
In 2018, Pakistan pledged to plant ten billion trees in an effort to slow climate change and to replenish a landscape that has been decimated by decades of deforestation, livestock grazing, and drought. It was an ambitious goal, but as the Washington Post reported at the time, "the idea of a green awakening seems to be taking root... The concept appeals to a new generation of better-educated Pakistanis, and it has sparked excitement on social media." That program, whose name is 10 Billion Tree Tsunami, has been chugging along for the past two years, but it recently received an unexpected infusion of help from – of all things – the coronavirus. Many Pakistanis are suddenly unemployed, so the government has given them jobs as tree-planters. Unemployed day laborers have been turned into "jungle workers," planting saplings for 500 rupees a day ($3), which is roughly half of what a construction worker would normally earn. It's not a lot, but it's enough to get by...
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Thanks for the effort you put into your blog.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the rules for surviving post covid in the post by Charles H Smith that you linked to in your previous post. My wife and I practice a good part of this stuff. For me the practice of living low to the ground comes mostly from being born right after WW2 and hearing all the stories told by relatives and neighbors of border crossings, flights from invading armies, food shortages, financial collapse etc. etc. As a result, I could never bring myself to trust the materialist paradise that I was living in. I was always living a conservative life with low expectations that prosperity could go on forever. Until this year I believed pretty much that although prosperity was declining, it was quite possible that I would be dead already when if finally ended for good. Well now it looks as though The Economy really obeys the laws of thermodynamics more than the laws of the economists. That is, a stystem based on exponential growth cannot work in an environment of natural resource decline, unless we re-define prosperity to mean more people eating less and owning less each successive year.
Thanks also for the link to the permaculture book. I will check that out. Learning wild foraging down here in west central Mexico. Harvesting a good amount of fruits and seeds that grow on trees around here. And it's not just the collecting and processing but also the preservation that's important. Insects are always looking to share our bounty.
Thanks Wolfgang. I'm sorry that you have been proven correct by history.
DeleteOh well,... I think you and I have things to offer that we learned from our grandparents, which sounds silly in a way, because it is all written down, but it is different when your grandparents know how important it is. You feel how important it is, and you learn. They love you, and teach you to protect you.
I still feel that, too.