Me, deciding to take advantage of pandemic downtime: “Yeah, 220, 221, whatever it takes."


Covid-19 is 9.5-44x more fatal than seasonal flu — Scientific American — Flu deaths are counted in a misleading, grossly inflated manner, as compared with how Covid-19 deaths are counted.


ME (1 month ago today): “How is it April already? This situation has been going on a long time!”

ME (seemingly minutes later): “How is it May already…. ?”


We watched the latest episode of “The Good Fight” last night. I liked it. I would’ve liked it more if the stinkers hadn’t given away a major plot point in the previews.

The main storyline of this season seems to be about a mysterious Memo 618. However, the previews told us what Memo 618 is. Feh. 📺


Cover art for the Erber Science Fiction series, Germany, 1976-1977. via


The Invisible Man – Today, Explained podcast: Where in the world is Kim Jong Un? Vox Journalist AlexWard says the rotund North Korean leader is probably not dead, might be very sick, and that North Korea’s leaders are watching the US, West and Western news media carefully to see how we react when we think he might be dead.

Also, Kim Jong Un is EXTREMELY obese. He merely looks chubby on TV – testimony to the power of loose-fitting dark clothes. And he’s a chain-smoker. Kim Jong Un was huffing and puffing to keep up with Trump.


Biden’s Campaign of Isolation – The New York Times Daily podcast: Joe Biden is campaigning from his basement, struggling to attain visibility while Trump commands the spotlight. This might be good for Biden.


URL for the micro meetup? I did not see that advance registration was required!


In the Republican solution to the Trolley Problem, the top priority is saving the trolley.


Ernest Hemingway supposedly wrote a six-word short story: “For Sale: Baby Shoes. Never Worn.”

Didn’t happen. The story about Hemingway is apocryphal, appearing first in “Papa,” a one-many play about Hemingway by John deGroot, which debuted in 1996.

However, something very like that ad appeared in real life in a Tucson newspaper in 1945.




I’m hosting a “town hall” style Zoom meeting next week and I’m looking for a guide to doing such a thing. Anybody with experience willing to walk me through the process? We’re talking about seven or 8 speakers and maybe 100 attendees or more.


Today on Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic

++ “Swedish covid death rates soar above neighbors': “Do nothing” is not doing something.”

++ “Financial services workers dying for junk mail: Broadridge workers denied PPE, sick leave.”

++ AMC: “We will never show another Universal movie”: The feds are dismantling the monopoly regulations that broke up the Hollywood studio system. Soon we will have a few companies owning all the cable companies, movie studios and movie theaters. That’l be financially disastrous for anybody who works on or consumes Hollywood products.


They died for junk mail: Six workers died of COVID-19 at a Long Island, New York, warehouse for a company that prints and mails financial documents.

The company, Bainbridge Financial Solutions, pressured employees to avoid taking sick days, and delayed distributing PPE.

Coronavirus Kills Six Workers at Broadridge Warehouse

Thanks, Cory!


Last night, Julie and I watched the first episode of “Tales from the Loop,” an anthology series on Amazon Prime about the people in an Ohio smalltown where everybody works at some kind of paranormal research facility.

The episode was long on visual style and mood, short on actual story.

I’m not inclined to watch it again.

On the other hand, Julie likes it and I don’t dislike it enough to not watch another episode with her. So I’ll give the show at least one more try.

Even the fact that the show is apparently set in the 70s or early 80s was not enough to pull me in. 📺




Congress Concierge Health Clinic Quietly Gets Funding Boost — Congresspeople who reject government healthcare for the people — including Rand Paul and Nancy Pelosi — enjoy the finest government healthcare themselves.