2020
The San Diego City Attorney is seeking an injunction against Instacart
Chris Jennewein at the Times of San Diego:
The San Diego City Attorney’s Office has petitioned an appellate court to reinstate its injunction against grocery delivery company Instacart, which the city alleged misclassified its employees as independent contractors, and now places Instacart‘s workforce at greater risk because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The risk is not just to Instacart workers, but to all the people they come in contact with. They’d literally be carrying infections into people’s homes, along with groceries.
I found this enjoyable both for the colorful expletives and for the many video snippets of random British roads.
How Huawei is dividing Western nations
Scott Bade at TechCrunch: Western countries are split on whether to ban Huawei outright on telco networks, like Australia does, or allow the company to be used cautiously, like Britain.
The US is, of course, calling for a Huawei ban.
Much of the split is geographic. The US and Australia are Pacific powers, with China as a neighbor. For Europe, China is a half a world away.
If war breaks out between the US and China, the US and its more Sino-cautious allies fear their vital networks would be controlled by the enemy. And even in peace, Western nations don’t want to see those vital networks controlled by China.
You can’t chalk this one up to more Trump idiocy. The US started turning up the heat on China under Obama. And a million Uighurs will tell you that China is not a nice country.
Uranus Ejected a Giant Plasma Bubble During Voyager 2’s Visit - The New York Times
Uranus is very farty.
This painting by Rudolf Sieber Lonati was used on the covers of Silber-Grusel-Krimi #213 and Larry Brent #49. Via
1961 cover art by Mitchell Hooks Via
#ayyy Via
Yelp launched GoFundMe campaigns for small businesses without their permission, which is making the small business owners angry.
Fearsome Flush - Real Ghostbusters (Kenner) Via
Steve Ditko. Via
Opinion - The Religious Right’s Hostility to Science Is Crippling Our Coronavirus Response
Katherine Stewart at The New York Times: At a time when responsible people are practicing social distancing — if they can — the Religious Right is filling church pews and claiming coronavirus is a liberal conspiracy to remove Trump from office after the Mueller investigation and impeachment failed.
‘White-Collar Quarantine’ Over Virus Spotlights Class Divide
Noam Scheiber, Nelson D. Schwartz and Tiffany Hsu writing at the New York Times:
… a kind of pandemic caste system is rapidly developing: the rich holed up in vacation properties; the middle class marooned at home with restless children; the working class on the front lines of the economy, stretched to the limit by the demands of work and parenting, if there is even work to be had.
I have developed my own modification to the standard hand-washing technique you’ve seen on YouTube and in GIFs, which I believe will be beneficial (although I am not a medical professional):
In addition to turning off the faucets with the towel, to avoid contamination, also use the towel to open the bathroom door and turn out the lights. This further avoids touching contaminated surfaces.
Then go out in the living room and let the dog lick your hand.
Nurses Share Coronavirus Stories Anonymously in an Online Document - Edmund Lee - The New York Times
More than 1,200 health care workers have used a private online document to share their stories of fighting the coronavirus pandemic on the front lines.
In their accounts, they say the outbreak has turned American hospitals into “war zones.” They talk about being scared to go to work and anxious that they will become infected. They describe managers who seem to not care about their plight.
“But we show up and have to keep showing up,” one nurse wrote, “and we have to test ourselves.”
The document was created on March 19 by Sonja Schwartzbach, a nurse in New Jersey who is studying as a doctoral student. She said she started compiling the accounts after she determined that hospital conditions were “far worse” than most people realized and that her fellow health care workers needed a place to share what they were seeing.
One month ago today I took Minnie in to the vet for her bordatella and heartworm test.
Two years ago today I was on a train to LA for a conference.
Three years ago today one of my oldest friends was in town for a conference, and so he and another of my oldest friends got together for dinner.
So much activity involving being around people, at less than a 6' distance!
Coronavirus changes everything about the 2020 election. Trump is now the favorite to win. All he has to do is not fuck up egregiously.
People will continue to support Trump even in the face of normal incompetence from him – it will take outrageous incompetence to undercut Trump’s support.
On the other hand, outrageous incompetence is something that Trump regularly does. This is a man who went out bankrupt – repeatedly – running casinos, and whom no legitimate bank would do business with.
Cory Doctorow: San Francisco’s DNA Lounge is delivering cocktails in mason jars. A mason jar is three servings – or one if you really want to party like it’s 1999.