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. šŸ“ŗ

The Invisible Man ā€“ 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 ā€“ 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.

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.”

++ ā€œFinancial services workers dying for junk mail: Broadridge workers denied PPE, sick leave.ā€

++ 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.

Last night, Julie and I watched the first episode of ā€œTales from the Loop,ā€ 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.

Iā€™m not inclined to watch it again.

On the other hand, Julie likes it and I donā€™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. šŸ“ŗ

Today on Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic

++ Cigna health insurers are telling investors they’re looking ahead to a great year, even while the health insurance lobby group is begging for a handout from Washington.

++ Damien Patton, co-founder of Banjo, a “grifty” AI surveillance startup that works with police, is a convicted Ku Klux Klan terrorist.

As a 17-year-old, Patton “was a Nazi skinhead who once helped a KKK leader stage a drive-by shooting that ‘sprayed bullets’ into a synagogue.” He was active in the Dixie Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

Patton was the wheelman for a Klansman who fired a TEC-9 into a Nashville synagogue, and then was smuggled out of state by another Klansman….

His testimony included this phrase: “We believe that the Blacks and the Jews are taking over America, and it’s our job to take America back for the White race.”

Patton says he no longer believes those things to be true, and he sincerely regrets his youthful actions and beliefs.

Banjo “has conned the state of Utah into giving it access to state’s surveillance feeds with the promise of fighting crime using secret methods that Utahans (and independent reviewers) aren’t allowed to understand.”

++ In other surveillance news: NSO Group is a cyber-arms dealer that helps “the world’s most despicable dictators” commit crimes against humanity – including the Saudi murder and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi.

At least one NSO employee used National Security Agency tools to stalk a woman he knew personally. He broke into NSA offices in the United Arab Emirates. This practice is so common that the NSA has a cute nickname for it, LOVEINT.

++ After the British Empire conquered the world and looted cultural artifacts, the British Museum, is claiming copyright over images of those artifacts. I’m planning to steal my next-door neighbor’s lawnmower and then claim copyright on pictures of it.

++ The medical debt collection industry is going strong during the pandemic. Victims include a nurse who is borrowing gas money to get to work because all of her pay is being garnisheed.

++ 68 pieces of advice from Kevin Kelly on his 68th birthday. Includes:

  • Always demand a deadline,
  • “Being able to listen well is a superpower” (I’m working on listening and am getting better at it. Previously I was just “waiting to talk.")

Also:

Friends are better than money. Almost anything money can do, friends can do better. In so many ways a friend with a boat is better than owning a boat.

And:

Before you are old, attend as many funerals as you can bear, and listen. Nobody talks about the departed’s achievements. The only thing people will remember is what kind of person you were while you were achieving.

I seem to be on a Rome kick lately

I watched Britannia, with Julie, and am rewatching I, Claudius.

I just started reading “Silver Pigs,” the first book of the historical mystery series by Lindsey Davis about Marcus Didius Falco, a private investigator in 1st Century Rome. I read many of those books years ago but I have essentially forgotten them so I’m quite enjoying “Silver Pigs.” I did not get through the whole series then, and plan to do so now. I expect it’ll take me a couple of years but that’s OK.

And I just started reading Mike Duncan’s “Storm Before the Storm,” a history of the events that led up to the fall of the Roman Republic.

The Roman Republic rose from an obscure village to the first megacity, conquering Italy and beyond. It lasted 500 years. Think of how long that is – that’s the equivalent of the early 1500s to today. The Republic must have seemed immutable, a permanent fixture of the world, like the land and sky. And then it went away. Potential parallels to today are obvious.

I think of Roman TV shows as being set in the same universe as I, Claudius, like Marvel superhero movies or Star Trek shows. The Claudiverse – or Clavdiverse! Britannia is a series about events that take place entirely offstage during the 11th episode of I, Claudius, “A God inColchester.” One of the main characters of Britannia gets namechecked twice in that “I, Claudius” episode. “Rome” is a prequel to “I, Claudius.” And so on.

Reportedly, when David Milch pitched “Deadwood” to HBO, he went into the meeting with a series in mind that would have been set in ancient Rome. Milch was obsessed with the concept of civil society rising up out of disorder – you can see that in “Deadwood” and his earlier show, “NYPD Blue.” So his idea for a series would have followed two ordinary soldiers in the Vigiles Urbani, the police and firefighters of imperial Rome. According to the story, when Milch took the meeting the HBO executives said they already had a Roman series, which become “Rome,” and so Milch thought fast on his feet and the series became “Deadwood.”

“Deadwood” was fantastic but I want to see that other series. I even have a made-up title for it: “SPQR Blue.” šŸ““šŸ“ššŸ“ŗ

Iā€™m thinking of trying Amethyst, a tiling window manager for the Mac, even though I have a mental block against adding keyboard shortcuts to my brain.

I wonder if I have any Post-It notes around the office?

How to pitch an editor ā€“ Great tips from Esther Schindler, who knows, for freelance writers on how to get an editor to buy an article.

Iā€™m looking to broaden my portfolio into general-interest, tech journalism, which is an area where I have zero reputation. So Iā€™ll be (metaphorically speaking) pinning this article prominently to my bulletin board.

(I actually donā€™t have a bulletin board and donā€™t print things out. But you know what I mean.)

Six years ago today, a girl in the park wanted me and Minnie to participate in a science experiment about handedness in dogs. She said Minnie had to be able to to sit and give paw on command. I said Minnie wasnā€™t reliable on that ā€” truth is, we have never done it. The girl said we couldnā€™t participate. Minnieā€™s self-esteem was severely damaged (by which I mean Minnie had no idea what was going on and continued cheerfully on her way).

Feels like the news has been the same every day for a couple of weeks, but something big will reach a tipping point any day now.

Doctor Who: McGann, Eccleston & Tennant Doctors Unite For New Story ā€” New Doctor Who miniseries will feature the Christopher Eccleston, Paul McGann, and David Tennant Doctors, as well as Billie Piper’s character, Rose Tyler, on “every possible media platform apart from the main Doctor Who television series,” including “novels, comics, audio, video games, VR games and even a new series of Doctor Who themed escape rooms.ā€

Sounds exhausting.

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter was out of stock last time I was at the supermarket. I expected the same when I went to the supermarket yesterday. But I was pleasantly surprised to see they had a good quantity on the shelves.

I exclaimed joyously, “I can’t believe it’s I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!”

Today on Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic

++ Indie booksellers are doing pretty well in the pandemic, including Barnes & Noble, which is rebooting as an indie chain;

++ Listen to the podcast of “Someone Comes To Town, Someone Leaves Town,” one of my favorites of Cory’s novels;

++ Billionaires are making big money on the pandemic, while their employees go broke and risk death;

++ The pandemic proves ISP data-caps were always a pretense;

++ And Denver Health Medical Center cuts healthcare workers' pay while giving executives five- and six-figure bonuses.

Six years ago today was a weekend day and I went to the mall. Out and around people, not wearing a mask or gloves!

From my journal:

Shopped for sandals, stopped in at Apple Store, looked in at Microsoft store (an eerie clone of the Apple store but none of the computers on display connect to anything other than the Microsoft Store demo website and one of the computers was broken). I had a dirty soy chai latte, which a friend regularly drinks. It was very tasty.

While leaving the Apple store I walked into a glass wall, thinking it was a passageway, and bumped my head. Smooth!

I went grocery shopping yesterday. Plastic bag reuse has been suspended in California for the crisis. The cashier said she was glad about that. People bring in some disgusting bags for re-use, she said.

When all this handwashing began I was using a harsh soap that gave me a small rash on my left wrist. That means I have to wear my Apple Watch on my right wrist. That was weeks ago and I still haven’t gotten used to operating the Watch that way.

Completely unrelated: I’ve just learned I’ve been nominated for the Whiny Little Pandemic Bitch Award.

John Ritter guest starred on the last episode of Mannix in 1975. They used “The Brady Bunch” set for the interiors.

Screen grab and caption courtesy of Ashley Nevius

via

I went through a Southern Rock phase in college. I wore a cowboy hat. I was a pudgy Jew from Long Island. I looked ridiculous.

I still love the music tho. Sometimes I crank up the Outlaws' Ghost Riders in the Sky loud and listen to it like 18 times in in a row. AirPods have saved our marriage.

I suck at not touching my face but I think about not touching my face while Iā€™m touching my face so thatā€™s good right?

ā€ŖDog, me and Julie were sitting on the couch just now. Dog looked at me and straight-up belched, sounding very human. Julie said she thought I’d done it. I don’t think she’s entirely convinced it wasnā€™t me. ā€¬

Found Snapshots of a Secret 1960s Crossdressing Resort in the Catskills

By Amy Faith on Messy Nessy Chic:

ā€œWhat struck me on that first day was the normalcy of the images, even if it was a studied illusion. Here were photos documenting everyday women, going about their everyday lives ā€“ except that these women were men who probably lived as truck drivers, accountants, or bank presidents during the week.ā€

Great photos and a hell of a story!

What We Can Learn From 1918 Influenza Diaries

Smithsonian Magazine:

When Dorman B.E. Kent, a historian and businessman from Montpelier, Vermont, contracted influenza in fall 1918, he chronicled his symptoms in vivid detail. Writing in his journal, the 42-year-old described waking up with a ā€œhigh fever,ā€ ā€œan awful headacheā€ and a stomach bug.

ā€œTried to get Dr. Watson in the morning but he couldnā€™t come,ā€ Kent added. Instead, the physician advised his patient to place greased cloths and a hot water bottle around his throat and chest.

ā€œTook a seidlitz powderā€ā€”similar to Alka-Seltzerā€”ā€œabout 10:00 and threw it up soon so then took two tablespoons of castor oil,ā€ Kent wrote. ā€œThen the movements began and I spent a good part of the time at the seat.ā€

Injections of Bleach? Beams of Light? Trump Is Self-Destructing Before Our Eyes

“The notion that [Trump] is bound for four more years is pure superstition.”

This is a wonderful rallying cry by Frank Bruni at the New York Times about Trump’s extreme beatability this year. Indeed, Trump doesn’t have to be beaten; he’s destroying himself.

Trump is extremely unpopular now. Of course, he was extremely unpopular in 2016 as well, and won anyway.

But the dissonance of that victory could be explained partly by what he represented: a protest against the status quo. Now heĀ _isĀ _the status quo, and voters have had a chance to sample the disruption that he pledged. It tastes a lot like incompetence.

I’ve been saying – and hoping – something similar for a couple of years. A big part of Trump’s support in 2016 came from people who went into the voting booth and saw two levers. One was marked “MORE OF THE SAME.” They pulled the other lever, which was marked “SOMETHING DIFFERENT.”

Also, while Trump makes a strength out of outrageous behavior that would be fatal to another politician, a lot of what he has going for him is just plain luck.

Heā€™s lucky beyond all imagining. But hereā€™s the thing about luck: It runs out.

Yes.

Thanks, @ReaderJohn!

Coronavirus Overtakes Ninjas As Top Invisible Enemy [The Babylon Bee]

What makes coronavirus even worse than ninjas, according to Trump, is that there is currently no known defense against it, while the defense against ninjas is well known (train with monks for a decade in the mountains to learn the secrets of martial arts).

This is of course satire but no dumber than things 45 actually says.

Thanks, @chet!

The week before the shutdown here in San Diego I went to two social events – which is a lot for me – and surprised myself how much I enjoyed them.

Days before the shutdown I said to myself, “I think my time as a recluse is over. I need to join community associations and clubs and get out more and socialize.”

So the pandemic is my fault. My bad.

Today on Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic

++ A GoFundMe to save NYC’s Forbidden Planet store.

++ “A labradoodle breeder is in charge of America’s vaccines: An actual labradoodle could do a better job.”

++ “Inject disinfectant:” Even when faced with ridiculous objections to scientific fact, such as climate change, journalists feel the need for dangerous both-siderism.

++ “Masks work: Lasers reveal your revolting, spittle-flecked utterances.”

++ “US telcoms sector isn’t doing better than Europe’s: Net Neutrality’s murderers want you to believe they saved the American internet.”

++ “Amazon uses its sellers' data to figure out which products to clone: And they lied to Congress about it.”

++ “Facebook let advertisers target ‘pseudoscience’ and ‘conspiracy’:” This uses the same algorithm that previously allowed advertisers to target “jew-haters.”

++ “Security expert conned out of $10,000: If you think you’re too smart to get phished…. "

I miss going to the grocery store to buy three things

I’d realize I was out of apples or coffee, and then I’d go to the store and buy that and maybe two other things and that was my errand.

Related: I miss having apples every day. I now have apples most days but I do not want to risk going to the store often enough to allow me to have apples every day. I’ve been out of apples several days now, but on deadline so don’t have time for a grocery run.

Can the coronavirus be spread through farts? [Eric Hegedus/NYPost]

Australian doctors aren’t sure whether farting spreads coronavirus, and advise restraining from bare-bottom farting and farting when close to other people.

Which begs the question whether bare-bottom farting and farting close to other people has previously been common practice in Australia?

I know I have several Australian social media friends and I would appreciate enlightenment on this subject.

I feel a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out for coffee.

TV show idea: “Zeno, Warrior Princess,” about a transgender Classical Greek philosopher who defeats evildoers using logical paradoxes.

An old friend just shared a Dropbox folder of hundreds of photos he took when we were teenagers together.

This is me looking much cooler than I have ever been in my life.

That hair tho. I do miss having hair. šŸ“· šŸ““

The Coronavirus in America: The Year Ahead [Donald G. McNeil Jr./The New York Times]

An excellent overview of the best science on what to expect – not just for the next year, but for years.

Short version: Expect gradual, cautious “opening the economy” and going out in public, in phases. The process could take literally years. People proven immune will get passports that let them move freely anywhere. At-risk people will live more limited lives.

The civil liberties implications here are ENORMOUS; freedom of movement and assembly are two essential characteristics distinguishing police states from free societies. But we are going to have to give those things up to minimize harm from the pandemic.

Not said in this article: Or we could be stupid and lots of people could rush out right away to bars and movie theaters and sporting events, and we’ll see hundreds of thousands of deaths.

The Year 2038 Problem [Reset]: If you enjoyed the Year 2000 crisis, we get to do it again in 2038.

Also: Making the case that Y2K was not rubbish; rather, a lot of people got together to make sure that nothing would go wrong, and very little did. Because of their efforts, we did see some problems in 2000, but they were no big deal.

And, interestingly, some of the effects were felt this year, in January – one of the Y2K workarounds was to essentially kick the problem down the road 20 years.

Who’s Organizing the Lockdown Protests [The Daily]

“An informal coalition of influential conservative leaders and groups has been quietly encouraging demonstrations against stay-at-home orders across the country.”

Usual suspects of Tea Party backers, gun rights groups, and Trump advocates.

Generally I’m happy to see Trump supporters burn their own houses down, but I am genuinely grieved and appalled to see photos of these protest groups. They’re playing Russian roulette with their own lives, their children and their families, friends, co-workers and neighbors.

It’s like watching a group of people protest traffic laws by walking blindfolded across a major superhighway during rush hour.

The problem with read-later bookmarking services like Pocket and Instapaper is your queue is filled with articles you decided not to read.

My women friends are showing their coronavirus hairdos on Instagram. Hereā€™s mine.

Why do people think 5G causes coronavirus?

The 5G coronavirus conspiracy theory[Reset]

A vague throwaway line in a European newspaper in January ignited multiple conspiracy theories about a nonexistent link between 5G and coronavirus

People subscribe to theories like this because there are things really going on in the world that would have been unthinkable a short time ago

The best way to combat the spread of a conspiracy theory: Start by listening.

What to expect in the next year or two of the pandemic

Donald G. McNeil Jr., New York Times science and health reporter, who has successfully anticipated the pandemic thus far, polishes his crystal ball and looks at what to expect for the next year or two.

  • Immunity passports, as people get certified immune and fit to go out in public;
  • Start-stop lockdowns, as societies open up, infection rates increase, and then societies shut down again;
  • and strategic self-infection – people intentionally infecting themselves in hopes of acquiring immunity.

Afterward, possibly a flourishing of prosperity and progressive policy, as happened after World Wars I and I.

The Next Year (or Two) of the Pandemic [The Daily/The New York Times]

Today on Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic

++ Calls by the music industry to put copyright filters on the entire Internet are a terrible idea. Existing filters are utter failures at finding copyrighted material and “they also flag and block entire libraries' worth of legit materials.” Copyright filters will do the EXACT OPPOSITE of what they intend: They will encourage copyright abuse, stifle legitimate free expression and creativity and – because they cost hundreds of millions of dollars a year to implement – they will block startups from competing with the big incumbent internet companies.

++ Apartment buildings didn’t cause the pandemic.

++ “Reopen” websites are backed by the Koch brothers and other grifters behind the Tea Party, GOP and conmen who stir up fears that guns are going to confiscated.

++ Charter gives its field techs $25 gift cards to restaurants – which aren’t open – instead of hazard pay or PPE, and it requires back-office staff to come to work in the office. Now at last 230 Charter employees have Covid-19 and the company is under investigation by the NY Attorney General.

++ Disney heiress Abigail Disney says the company’s top executives ought to forego bonuses rather than furlough 100,000 front-line workers.

Trump is going down hard in November

Everyone is in denial about November [Daniel W. Drezner/The Washington Post]

We’re only in the second inning of the pandemic. Getting a little breather now, things are looking like they’re getting better, but most of the crisis is still ahead of us.

And Trump can be counted on to make things worse. That is his biggest liability as a President. Not his numerous character flaws – jerk, crook, racist, narcissist, serial and compulsive liar. No, Trump’s biggest liability as a President is that he’s an incompetent moron. He’s an idiot. Even worse, he THINKS he’s a super-competent genius. And that’s going to be even more obvious in November than it is today.