Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Wetsuit optional.

This is all too absurd to be reality, right?

Reality always wins in the end.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

… makes me wish i had hoarded more linguine

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

What fresh hell is this?

Where tasty lettuce and good mustard aren’t elitist.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

We still have time to mess this up!

Shock troops for the Unitarian Jihad.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Verified, but limited!

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

This blog is Obama’s Katrina.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Too inconsequential to be sued

Everybody saw this coming.

Mission Accomplished!

I’m only here for the duck photos.

How do you get liars to care about the truth?

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / COVID-19 Coronavirus Update: Saturday-Sunday, August 1-2

COVID-19 Coronavirus Update: Saturday-Sunday, August 1-2

by | 78 Comments

This post is in: ,


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Interesting, *if* true…


(Not that I don’t believe dogs might be able to sniff out people shedding the virus, but training is not an exact science. It can be tragically easy for dogs to learn to respond to their handlers’ unconscious cues — That looks like an infected person to me — rather than to scent cues. I’m especially dubious because many Muslims consider dogs ‘unclean’, and will react to the sniffer dogs in ways that might further ‘cue’ the dogs that those persons are SUSPICIOUS!)

And speaking of suspicious…

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Reader Interactions

78Comments

  1. 1.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s daily numbers. 14 new cases. 13 cases from local infection, all Malaysians: 11 from a cluster in Kubang Pasu, Kedah and two in Sabah. One imported case: a non-Malaysian returning from the Philippines. Cumulative total 8,999 cases.

    17 more patients recovered and were discharged. Total 8,664 patients recovered, 96.3% of the cumulative total. The numbrt of patients with active and contagious cases is down to 210, all of them in hospital for isolation/treatment; two are in ICU, one of them on a respirator.

    No new deaths. The total remains at 125 deaths, 1.39% of the cumulative total and 1.42% of resolved cases.

  4. 4.

    mrmoshpotato

    Russia plans to roll out a Covid-19 vaccine to the general population starting in October

    Sure Jan.

  5. 5.

    Falling Diphthong

    I really enjoyed the final video; thank you for a laugh this morning

    Especially the Russia bit: Well, no one believes you guys’s numbers, but stay far away from Australia and we’re good.

  7. 7.

    rikyrah

    I agree with the first tweet

     

    People don’t grasp the range of symptoms from ‘survivors’, or the long range health implications.

  9. 9.

    OzarkHillbilly

    We should incentivize labs to improve test turnaround time. If a Covid test comes back more than 72 hours later, it’s useless and the lab shouldn’t get paid. https://t.co/tqPy1nyg07

    I rather suspect that will only incentivize them to limit the tests they receive. There is a problem here, but that’s not the solution.

    @Amir Khalid: A lot of them.

  10. 10.

    Sloane Ranger

    Robert Sneddon gave the most recent UK figures in yesterday’s post so, just to say here that Scotland has identified a cluster of 16 new cases traced back to a pub in Aberdeen. All are experiencing only mild symptoms. The pub has been deep cleaned and has reopened for business.

    In other news, some Scottish academic has gone on record calling for a revival ofthe herd immunity concept. In summary, let’s lock up the old and vulnerable and let the young and healthy work and play as before. I didn’t catch what this guy is a professor of but I hope it’s nothing medical related.

  11. 11.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Sloane Ranger: 

    I saw the BBC report on the Aberdeen pub cluster. I’m not surprised, pubs and restaurants are COVID-19 hot-spots waiting to happen but people are social animals and want to get together and breathe each others exhalations and they will rationalise any excuse to do so. Masks and social distancing will not prevent infection spreading, they can only reduce the certainty of infection down to a high-middle probability.

    There used to be a BBS/proto-website thing I followed for a while back in the late 90s, hosting an odd mixture of Libertarians and budding tech-bros which had a sub-group labelled “Simple engineering solutions to complex people problems”. My solution to COVID-19 is in that category — everyone on the entire planet, without exception, self-isolates for at least three weeks. Problem solved! Instead we’ve got schools re-opening, pubs and clubs with “social distancing” tape on the floor and the second wave of infections is upon us instead.

  12. 12.

    satby

    So the latest in asshole performance art at the farmers market (hat tip to Sister Golden Bear in the previous thread) is wearing tiny plastic face shields upside down in front of their mouths. It looks and probably acts like a funnel to send germs right into their nose and mouth. Plus now more people have dispensed with masks and use only face shields, along with the loud and proud assholes who still refuse to wear masks at all in spite of the fact that they’re mandatory.
    I’m now actively hoping they all get very sick. I despise them.

  13. 13.

    NotMax

    @Sloane Ranger

    ‘Tis a shame to hear that. Extremely fond memories of time spent during the dead of winter in Aberdeen and its environs.

    Also the quickest airplane takeoff I’ve ever experienced, aboard a prop flight from Dyce to London on a day when gales blowing from the North Sea were clocked at gusting up to 100 mph.

  14. 14.

    Bruce K

    Greece is spiking: 110 cases reported on August 1, and according to Kathimerini, only 9 were related to international travel. Population 10.9 million. This is getting worrisome

     

    (Edit: apparently 24 were from cases discovered at a meat-packing plant in Kavala. Still worrisome.)

  15. 15.

    Amir Khalid

    @satby:

    A face shield instead of a mask, rather than with a mask, is no protection at all. I remember reading that a hotel’s employees who wore only face shields got sick, while their coworkers who wore only masks did not. I agree: if they refuse to wear a mask, face shield or no, and they get sick, it serves them right.

  17. 17.

    satby

    @Amir Khalid: I’m well aware of that and have pointed it out to every single one who wears only those, but Americans have devolved into a pathetic loser nation of whiny ass tittie babies who are consumed with themselves to the exclusion of even their families and friends. Darwin needs to take the wheel.

    And my neighbor, who is black and works at Notre Dame so certainly knows better, had a family party last night. We get along well so it’s worrisome, she’s only a year younger than me but a heavy smoker. About 20 people, some in from out of town, no masks or distancing. People just don’t imagine it could be them that gets sick, until it is I guess.

  18. 18.

    satby

    @NotMax: they ignore it and it has no enforcement mechanism. Or they abide by it with the goofy upside down half face shields.

    They need to start fining and shutting down these vendors. Business is down a lot, but people wearing masks still purchase food from these unmasked vendors. INSANE.

  20. 20.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Found out last night that one of my cousins has it really bad. Early 50s, a ton of comorbidities (obesity and heart issues). He’s in the ICU, on a ventilator, getting 100% O2 and Lasix. Prognosis isn’t good – he’s a retired EMT chief, two kids in middle school.

    Nice guy – his sister is keeping us informed.

  21. 21.

    TS (the original)

    So trump finds a country doing the right thing about COVID-19 (Melbourne, Vic Australia) & this is his response

    Tweet from trump
    Big China Virus breakouts all over the World, including nations which were thought to have done a great job. The Fake News doesn’t report this. USA will be stronger than ever before, and soon!

    Twitter Moments Australia
    @MomentsAU
    · 6h
    A State of Disaster has been declared in Victoria over the COVID-19 outbreak and Melbourne residents face strict new restrictions including a nightly curfew and limits on movement outside of the home. Here are the details. …

    Everyone has reported what is happening in Melbourne – he obviously doesn’t read any news.

    He is truly a most vile, disgusting man. I feel less of a person for knowing anything about him. As for the continual use of “China Virus” from someone who has done nothing to help his people recover from this virus – I just have run out of words to describe the disgust.

  22. 22.

    Comrade Scrutinizer

    @satby: My wife’s father who is incapacitated with COPD, turned 80 yesterday, and 20 people in the family decided to give him a birthday party. Half of them refuse to wear masks, sure that the lord will protect them.  My wife, an NP, pleaded with them to mask and if they had to visit, at least do it in small groups.  She refused to go, despite the lord’s protection.

    Deeply stupid people.  If he gets sick and dies, I’m sure it will be the lord’s will and nothing to do with his idiot progeny.

  23. 23.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Yesterday, China reported 33 new domestic confirmed cases and 11 new domestic asymptomatic cases.

    Ürumqi in Xinjiang “Autonomous” Region reported 29 new confirmed cases, and 9 new asymptomatic cases. 5 case in critical condition, and 21 in serious condition, 4 serious case has stabilized to moderate condition. Kashgar added a confirmed case yesterday, connected to introduced case from Ürumqi. There are currently 569 confirmed cases (565 in Ürumqi, 2 at Kashgar, and 1 each at Changji Prefecture and Xinjiang Construction Corps), and 112 asymptomatic cases (110 in Ürumqi, 1 each in Changji Prefecture and Xinjiang Construction Corps), plus 1 asymptomatic case exported to Shaoxing in Zhejiang Province. 7 confirmed cases have recovered and been released from hospitals, 6 asymptomatic cases have been released from medical quarantine (including 7 of each yesterday). There are 14640 close contacts under quarantine and medical observation. New case count in Ürumqi continued its reduced trend from 7/31.

    Dalian in Liaoning Province reported 3 new confirmed cases and 1 new asymptomatic case. The outbreak in Dalian has a total of 79 confirmed cases: 3 serious cases, 66 moderate cases and 10 mild cases; 36 are workers from the import seafood processing plant, 12 are their close contacts, 18 are residents of Dalian Bay sub-district, and 12 are close contacts of confirmed/asymptotic cases not directly connected to the plant, 1 has unclear source of transmission. The city also has 32 asymptomatic cases: 19 are workers from the import seafood processing plant, 2 are their close contacts, 7 are residents of Dalian Bay sub-district, and 4 are close contacts of confirmed/asymptotic cases not directly connected to the plant. Additionally, 6 confirmed and 9 asymptomatic cases exported to the rest of China.

    City of Yichang in Hubei Province reported a new asymptomatic case. Every residents living in the same apartment building has already been tested, all negative. All households in the same unit of the apartment building are under lock down for 14 days. No idea on the source of transmission.

    Yesterday, China reported 16 new imported confirmed cases, 9 imported asymptomatic cases, :

    • Chengdu in Sichuan Province – 4 confirmed and 2 asymptomatic cases, all Chinese nationals arriving on a flight from Qatar
    • Wuhan in Hubei Province – 3 confirmed cases, all Chinese nationals returning from Russia
    • Qingdao in Shandong Province – 3 confirmed cases (previously designated as asymptomatic), all Chinese nationals returning from the Philippines
    • Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 2 confirmed cases, Chinese nationals returning from the Philippines and Kenya, respectively; 2 asymptomatic cases, Chinese nationals returning from the Philippines and Singapore, respectively
    • Xi’an in Shaanxi Province – 2 confirmed and 1 asymptomatic cases, all Chinese nationals on a flight from Singapore
    • Shanghai Municipality – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from Brazil
    • Xiamen in Fujian Province – 1 confirmed (previously designated as asymptomatic) and 1 asymptomatic cases, both are Chinese nationals returning from the Philippines
    • Fuzhou in Fujian Province – 2 asymptomatic cases, both Chinese nationals returning from the US
    • Zhengzhou in Henan Province – 1 asymptomatic case, no case information released

    Today, Hong Kong reported 115 new cases, all from local transmission, 36 of whom do not have clear source of transmission. 

  24. 24.

    Amir Khalid

    @NotMax:

    Durian soap would make a great gag gift/joke-shop item. But I pity anyone who has a go at making it — and their neighbours, too.

  25. 25.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    “Trump insists that schools reopen”

    Can we keep him busy making idiotic pointless proclamations for the next 3-5 months and keep his tiny grubby little paws off the country?

    Meanwhile, in post-lockdown theater, I highly recommend this new 1-hour play from the Public Theater in NYC, if you want a glimpse into just how bad it is on the front lines of the pandemic.  They call it a “documentary play”. The lines are from actual health-care workers: doctors, nurses, EMTs, etc. Absolutely heartbreaking.

    Above anyone else in the entertainment field, I think theaters have been pretty creative in managing to keep doing what they do.

  26. 26.

    Elizabelle

    That last video.  LOL, as others said.

    America:  “I have rights.  I ain’t wearin’ a mask.”

  29. 29.

    Matt

    When we have a vaccine, we’ll need to send techs door-to-door with one thing in each hand:

    • a vaccine autoinjector in the right hand
    • a captive-bolt pistol in the left hand

    Wingnutz who complain about the first can have the latter.

  30. 30.

    satby

    @Comrade Scrutinizer: I hear “it’s in g-d’s hands” a lot. I suspect if there is a g-d, he/she is deeply offended by his believers blasphemous refusal to believe in the revealed science of his/her universe.

  31. 31.

    debbie

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Seconded.

    I’m hearing that baseball is having lots more issues with COVID-19 and their “bubble” than hockey and basketball are with theirs. I hope there are knowledgable people looking into this because it would add to what knowledge there is in adapting and living with COVID-19.

  32. 32.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Today, for the first time since the pandemic, we hosted an afternoon tea party at our apartment for two families of my wife’s close friends. It is good to be social again, at nearly normal levels (in normal times we might have invited more families). 6 adults and 3 children (including our daughter). No one showed any concern about COVID-19, all of us are confident that the virus is eradicated in Wuhan, and that current outbreaks are locally contained. We had a grand time together. I was finally able bring out the Wedgwood, Royal Albert, Rosenthal and Villeroy & Boch, that have been collecting dust for over 6 months.

    I raised the concern about college students returning for the Fall semester in a month (the friends are all co-workers at the same university my wife works at), with undergrads being the perfect asymptomatic/mild vectors and their dormitories and social haunts the perfect venues for super spreading events. Everyone acknowledged the potential risk, but the parents with school aged children were also looking forward to return of in-class instruction. With remote learning, parents have to pick up much of the teaching burden that was previously on teachers.

    So, if any polity that is suffering from a massive outbreak is willing to persevere through the initial lock down to suppress and eradicate the epidemic, and sustain the hard work of whack-a-mole with robust and aggressive Test/Trace/Isolate, there is light at the end of the tunnel with some semblance of normal, without having to wait for mass vaccination.

  33. 33.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @TS (the original): Following the Trump administration these days is like watching a farcically satirical modern remake of the German movie Downfall (about the last days in Hitler’s bunker), only the implications are anything but funny.

  35. 35.

    Amir Khalid

    @satby:

    Nancy Pelosi pointed out the obvious to such people, that science is the answer to their prayers.

    it’s like the punchline to the joke, where God says, “I sent you the guy on the raft, the rescue boat, and the rescue chopper. What more did you want?”

  36. 36.

    Butter Emails

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I rather suspect that will only incentivize them to limit the tests they receive. There is a problem here, but that’s not the solution.

    The ill considered and shallow solution had me clicking on on the tweet to see whether this guy was a Republican politician.

    On it’s surface it seems reasonable. With just a little consideration it’s lethally stupid.

    1. The issues impacting testing response from local labs and national labs servicing high impact states is one of capacity. There’s too many tests to do and insufficient trained people, equipment and supplies to quickly turn around the test results.
    2. Because there aren’t enough trained lab personal, and the availability of testing equipment and supplies is limited, the ability of testing companies to ramp up testing is constrained. That means the likely impact for legitimate testing labs will be some combination of not accepting samples and sloppiness. Of course, I’m sure a nearly bankrupt company known of making sewing machine needles or a brand new startup will jump in to fill the void and their tests won’t involve rolling a d20.
  39. 39.

    Sloane Ranger

    @debbie: As I understand it from CNN, basketball and ice hockey teams are tested nightly and literally isolated in hotels. They are not allowed to leave their rooms until last night’s test is confirmed as negative and can’t leave the hotel at all.

    Baseball players, OTOH, are allowed to go home on the promise that they won’t leave except to travel to and from the stadium.

    It doesn’t take an epidemiologist to see why they’re having issues.

  42. 42.

    Geminid

    Last week I made a short trip to Cortland County NY for a two day job. Kind of a working vacation in cooler weather. I only made two store stops at a Barnes and Noble and a Wegmans in Ithaca.  Adherence to social distancing and masking was total, and I left with the strong sense that Covid-19 is taken much more seriously, and mandates more strictly enforced, up there than here in Virginia. In Virginia we’re still averaging around 1000 new cases identified a day, but it crept up slowly last month. If the rate keeps rising, New York State provides a template for us to follow.

  43. 43.

    Amir Khalid

    @Sloane Ranger:

    I think the English Premier League did the same as the NBA and the NHL. It worked for finishing the 2019/20 season, and as a Liverpool supporter I’m relieved. But I don’t know if it’s doable for the whole of the coming season.

  44. 44.

    Robert Sneddon

    Scotland’s overnight numbers — 31 new cases, including the cluster of 13 cases in Aberdeen centred around a pub where the signs say “1 metre social distancing” but it’s a pub so you can take that as window-dressing and nothing more (me, I’d set indoor locations like pubs and restaurants to four metre distancing, not one or two but that’s me being rational and sensible).

     

    No new deaths of confirmed cases in Scotland, total hospital bed occupancy up slightly to 265, intensive care cases up to three in total. Remember though that the numbers on Sunday and Monday come from sources where the office staff reporting the details are often not working on the weekends, it’s “normal” for the numbers on Tuesday to spike upwards as the weekend’s toll gets added in.

  45. 45.

    geg6

    @YY_Sima Qian:

    Because I am to be expected to meet with students and families as students move in to the dorm and tuition bills being due 8/31, I will be wearing both a mask and a shield when I go back to the office in two weeks.  All that face to face contact leads me to be super cautious and want any possible infection avenues covered.

  46. 46.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @geg6: Good call! Maybe get Tyvek suits if you let can, but university admin probably will not let you wear one for fear of setting off panic.

  47. 47.

    Sloane Ranger

    @Amir Khalid: I think you’re right. Expecting young healthy men with wives, girlfriends and kids to stay in a completely self contained bubble for 6 months is unrealistic, not to mention managers, coaches, other support staff and officials.

    BUT, Gunners win the FA Cup, YEAH!!

  48. 48.

    WereBear

    @satby: People just don’t imagine it could be them that gets sick, until it is I guess.

     
    I think it’s indelibly connected with their personal experience with a deadly disease that is actually catching.

    Side effect of effective civilization, I suppose. Or perhaps a lack of imagination. I never dealt with contagious polio, as in a classmate who was fine and then in an iron lung, but reading about those who were are still vivid in my memory.

  49. 49.

    Another Scott

    @satby: I’m reminded of the story of the guy stuck on his roof during a flood who was waiting for God to save him, while the guy on the boat, and the guy from the Coast Guard helicopter, and …, came by to offer assistance.  (A version related here a few days ago.)

    Maybe God’s assistance comes in the form of a mask and staying home and taking a vaccine??

    (sigh)

    Hang in there.  Stay safe.

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  50. 50.

    scribbler

    @YY_Sima Qian:  Your tea party sounds lovely, and so very, very far away for us here.  Maybe–hopefully–possible in 2021?

    I feel like a poor, hungry urchin standing outside in the bitter cold, with nose pressed up against the window, wishing I could be inside where the people are warm, fed and happy.

  51. 51.

    Ian

    @Robert Sneddon:

    How in the name of (insert diety here) do you propose taking care of sick people, feeding children, or running EMT services?

    Everyone self isolating for three weeks is impossible without severe consequences, and unless our leaders decide to get serious about a financial relief package completely impractical for people without resources.

  52. 52.

    PPCLI

    @TS (the original): More gaslighting.

    Hopefully, next time Trump blathers about this in an interview the interviewer will point out that the Victoria state of emergency awas declared because they have 11,557 active cases (TOTAL, not in one day), with 671 new cases on August 1. And 7 (yes, SEVEN) new deaths on August 1. This situation was regarded as so critically serious that they’ve imposed an early curfew, put checkpoints coming in and out of Melbourne, limits on outdoor exercise, etc. An extremely tight lockdown.

    Victoria has a population of about 6 and 1/3 million. South Carolina has a population of a bit over 5 million. They have roughly 56,000 active cases, 1,583 new cases on Aug. 1, 39 deaths on August 1 [and that was one of the lowest daily totals in weeks].*

    South Carolina has minimal restrictions (for example, masks are just “recommended”, not required), and there is not, so far as I am aware, any movement to tighten them.

    And Trump is demanding that they open their schools.

     

    *Info from worldometers (a bit iffy as a source sometimes but in rough agreement with everyone else at the state level)

    South Carolina

  53. 53.

    satby

    @Amir Khalid: @Another Scott: you know guys, I want to tell that story every time I hear that “in g-d’s hands” stuff. But I already know from experience that it just proves to those kinds of people that they should ignore me because I’m clearly not a “Christian” as they understand the word. And they’re correct, so whatever.

  55. 55.

    PPCLI

    @debbie: I suspect that one of the reasons for the NHL’s success is that they have their two “bubbles” in cities (Edmonton and Toronto) where the virus is relatively controlled.

  56. 56.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @scribbler: Well, we in Wuhan were in the same boat in late Mar. and much of Apr., as the rest of China exited lock downs and social restrictions in phases, while residents in Wuhan were still mostly confined to our residential compounds (end of cordon sanitaire on 4/8 only meant that people could enter and leave the city with permit). Two hours a day was all we got. Even people with return to work permits could only travel between home and work.

    However, the harder a polity works at containment, suppression and eradication, the sweeter the fruit of labor down the line. Still need robust and aggressive TTI to keep that sweet fruit of labor.

    Even now, the danger of COVID-19 is never far away. I am sure residents of Beijing, Dalian and Ürumqi (and Vietnam) thought COVID-19 is no longer a threat to them, having not seen local transmissions for weeks or months, only for worrisome outbreaks pop up seemingly out of nowhere.

  57. 57.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Ian:

    “Simple engineering solutions to complex people problems”

    This disease is a people problem and is therefore complex — very few people problems are simple. Engineers like simple solutions, they build a fixed bridge across a river rather than installing a series of catapults and big nets on either bankside but creating a river crossing isn’t a people problem.

     

    Engineers often think they can solve people problems and worse still sometimes they get into positions of power and attempt to do so. My engineer’s solution gets rid of COVID-19 in the human population, pretty much in three weeks. It’s not workable AS a solution because a pandemic like this one is a people problem. For that you need people, representatives of the polis (the public at large) aka politicians to provide political solutions to fix things. If we’re lucky we’ll get the political equivalent of catapults and big nets. If we’re lucky.

  58. 58.

    oopzwtf

    What if, instead of explaining how well a mask can protect one from covid to the maskless fucks, we explained how poorly their high deductable health insurance does protecting them from ICU costs?

  60. 60.

    JDM

    Detection dogs, for drugs at least, have a terrible success rate; it’s pseudoscience. It’s possible they could detect a scent specific to Covid infection, but my bet would be no.

  63. 63.

    rikyrah

    @PPCLI:

     

    I suspect that one of the reasons for the NHL’s success is that they have their two “bubbles” in cities (Edmonton and Toronto) where the virus is relatively controlled.

     

    I think so too.

  64. 64.

    Anoniminous

    “Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’”
    ― Isaac Asimov

    Not a hope of addressing Covid-19 until enough ignorant hick white people die, forcing the rest to acknowledge reality

    ETA:  “white people” because the disease is already raging through Black, Native American, and Latino communities

  65. 65.

    dopey-o

    @Robert Sneddon: Engineers often think they can solve people problems and worse still sometimes they get into positions of power and attempt to do so.

    My former facilities-management boss used to dismiss crazy requests from other departments  with a quick “They want a technical solution to a management problem. Denied.”

  66. 66.

    Amir Khalid

    @rikyrah:

    Per the story at the link, his son Abhishek is still in hospital. But Abhisek’s wife Aishwara Rai and daughter Aaradhya have recovered and are out of hospital.

  67. 67.

    Sloane Ranger

    Latest figures from the UK. 744 new cases and 8 deaths BUT bear in mind that admin staff are usually off at weekends so a lot of stuff has to wait until Monday or Tuesday to be processed and reported so this number will probably increase once they return to work, which will be Tuesday as tomorrow is a Bank Holiday.

  69. 69.

    The Pale Scot

    @satby:

    he/she is deeply offended by his believers blasphemous refusal to believe in the revealed science of his/her universe

    Which leads to the punchline

     

    Mordici, give me a chance, buy a ticket

     

    What? I sent you two boats and a helicopter.

     

    Beaten to the punchline yet again

  70. 70.

    ballerat

    I saw 4 pickups go down the street, one after another, all had a huge American flag sticking up on one side of the cab and a huge blue Trump flag on the other. I’ve see them in the news too, at those stupid freedumb mask protests.

    What is it with trumpers and flags? And more specifically, what is it with this blue Trump flag? I figure the flag fetish is de rigueur for fascists, love of symbols of authority, etc., but not sure what the prevalence of the Trump flag signifies.

    Have presidential candidate flags ever been a thing? I don’t remember this being a thing before.

    It’s like the trumpers feel they needed a flag for their national identity. Trumpistan. Is the stars and bars too overtly racist and traitor-y now?

  71. 71.

    The Pale Scot

    @YY_Sima Qian:

    I wish my mother could have joined you. Multiple collections of fine ceramics that nether my sister or I want. we didn’t get the desire to entertain the multitudes gene

  73. 73.

    ballerat

    @ballerat: Trump flag as the battle flag of the non-state neo-confederacy, now appearing as their asymmetrical latent civil war against the rest of us becomes patent? It scans for me.

  74. 74.

    The Pale Scot

    @ballerat:

    I figure the flag fetish is de rigueur for fascists, love of symbols of authority, etc., but not sure what the prevalence of the Trump flag signifies.

    You answered your own question

    I figure the flag fetish is de rigueur for fascists, love of symbols of authority, etc.

  75. 75.

    ballerat

    @The Pale Scot: I think there’s more to it. I am now inclined to think it’s also staking out a national and cultural identity. This is the flag of the new confederacy.

    But have you seen presidential election flags as a thing before? I have not. Have you?

  76. 76.

    Chris T.

    There’s also the Futurama Robot Engineering Solution: “Kill all humans.” Coronavirus pandemic solved!

  77. 77.

    No name

    @ballerat: It is new and disgusting.  There are at least a half dozen houses within a mile of me that are flying trump flags on their flagpoles…no American flag in sight.  Have you seen the ones with his face superimposed on the flag?  Or the one where it’s just him and the kaga slogan?

  78. 78.

    Procopius

    @WereBear: 

    I never dealt with contagious polio, as in a classmate who was fine and then in an iron lung, but reading about those who were are still vivid in my memory.

    Yes. Like you I never knew anyone who was put in an iron lung, but I was old enough to have developed a memory of, every year, the dreaded month of August coming around. The worst thing was, unlike measles, no one had any idea how it was transmitted, so you had no way to take precautions.

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