Read it.

Ask yourself why it never went anywhere.

I subscribe to a collection of news feeds from British sources. A lot of what they publish, as with American sources, is trash. Since almost every article is accompanied by a picture, I’ve developed a simple method of triage that I’d like to share with you.

I ignore any article accompanied by a picture of:

1. Any member of a royal family, British or otherwise. (Yes, I know a lot of these people by sight. Don’t ask.)
2. Any British politician that I recognize. (Far too many. Again, don’t ask.)
3. Any athletic event or participant, including coaches and Russian oligarchs. (There’s a story behind that — but it’s just as boring.)
4. Food items. For some reason British news sources are big on these, and they’re all disgusting.

This eliminates about 90% of it, and saves an immense quantity of time. Highly recommended.

ZMan looks at the pandemic so far and is not impressed.

Now, the experts all say these numbers will explode in the near term. Just as the flu or the common cold starts small, person to person contact causes the infected population to grow quickly. Currently, the claim is the infected population will double every five days, with no end in sight. Italy, for example, could have 200,000 cases by the end of the month, if that prediction is correct. By May a little under one third of the population would have the virus and by June everyone is infected.

This is, of course, exactly what did not happen in China. In fact, we have no reason to think this will happen at all. We have examples of prior infections, some very serious like the Spanish Flu. We even have a good sense of the infection rate from the Black Death in the middle ages. As far as we know, there has never been a virus with an infection rate like what is being predicted. Maybe this is different. Maybe modern urban life makes us unusually susceptible to a pandemic. Maybe.

…

There’s also the idiot factor. The fact is, America has rounded up most of its imbeciles and put them on government payrolls. Under normal conditions, they do a limited about of harm this way. Under these conditions, they can do a lot of damage. Red Flag laws have already embolden imbeciles on the local police forces to randomly open fire on people in their homes. The staggering incompetence of public safety units must be part of any model predicting what comes next with the lock down.

Steve Sailer is not afraid to ask the hard questions.

This fellow theorizes that the Chinese love of meat, with the more types of animals the better, is a big source of infectious germs. In contrast, Hindu vegetarianism lessens transmissions from other animals.

On PBS, Amanpour Finds Environmental ‘Silver Lining’ in Coronavirus Epidemic

Planet is ‘way off track’ in dealing with climate change, U.N. report says

Rhode Island Official Admits State’s Climate Lawsuit Is Meant To Wring Money Out Of Big Oil: Court Docs

Read it.

One of the major concerns of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is that artificial intelligence and automation – robots – will eliminate jobs, both blue-collar and white-collar roles across a variety of sectors.

While C-3PO and WALL-E might be good at processing algorithms, they can never replace living, breathing, thinking humans entirely in the workplace. From the auto factory producing a fine-tuned machine where safety and functionality are of utmost importance, to the commodities trading floor where high-value transactions must take into account complex, rapidly changing geopolitical movements, businesses of all kinds still require human intelligence.

Babylon Bee.

NPR did a segment the other day on the terrible burden that closing the schools will be on parents who depend on the government free school meal programs to feed their kids.

Climate change could threaten sea snails in mid-Atlantic waters  Forget coronavirus, let’s get back to worrying about the real stuff.

Ace of Spades goes there.

Via Derek Hunter’s Daily Daily Caller Podcast. In today’s podcast, he starts with a warning that he’s going to curse in this show, because he can’t restrain himself from doing so talking about the media’s “evil” opportunism in deliberately trying to start a panic.

He also goes balls deep into Non-Binary Ben and the rest of the NeverTrumper Twitter Parrots for repeating the same talking points of their leftwing Twitter buddies.

He also notes that CNN featured “reporter” Jim Acosta to discuss Trump’s speech, and Acosta immediately leapt to the left’s newest Speech Patrol Initiative, that you can no longer identify diseases by their place of origin (if they’re place of origin is majority non-white).

But Jim Acosta called it “Wuhan Coronavirus” fifty days ago….

Read it.

There’s almost always at least one signature spacecraft for any of these space-based sci-fi shows, and I was realizing that they design of the ships, while varying wildly from movie to movie, seemed to be remarkably consistent for a given sub-genre of space sci-fi.

You could look at one ship and immediately know that, say, the show would take place in the relatively near future, and have a pretty good gorunding in science, or look at another and immediately know nobody gave two shits about physics, but it’ll be a fun ride.

Read it.

Plastics are a victim of their own success, so inexpensive, easy to use and versatile that the world is awash in plastic waste. Now researchers from the University of Houston have reported a new method of producing polyolefins — made from hydrocarbons and the most common building block of plastics — structured to address one of the biggest stumbling blocks to plastics recycling.

The process also would allow plastics to be produced from food oils and other natural substances.

Read it.

Photosynthesis is the process through which plants use the energy of the sun to convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose. Scientists have been trying for years to replicate the process, with the end result being electricity rather than glucose, and they have made some notable successes albeit all contained in the lab.

John Hinderaker at Power Line peeks behind the curtain.

I think there are several reasons for this, beyond legitimate concerns about spreading the disease.

First, a fear of liability that is probably misplaced. If other schools send their students home, and you don’t, and coronavirus makes some of your students sick, might they sue you for negligence? It would be a lousy case, but since anyone can sue anyone for anything, the fear of litigation is not wholly misplaced.

Second, many want to create a crisis that they can blame on Donald Trump in hopes of electing a Democratic president. This one doesn’t need any explanation.

The third reason is most interesting to me: I think many people are using coronavirus as an excuse for not doing things they didn’t want to do in the first place.

Read it.

Can’t see how this is ‘news’. I’d do the same if I were rich. That’s kinda what they’re for.

The Ballarat company making amazing things with recycled plastic

Bloom Energy blew through billions promising cheap, green tech that falls short

It’s Easy to be Fooled by a Climate Alarmist

GMA Guilt-Trips, ‘Do the Right Thing’ on Climate or No More Baby Seals

Oregon’s Dem Governor Signs A Climate Executive Order After GOP Lawmakers Flee For Idaho

Read it.

If, of course, that’s important to you.

I must admit that I find the thought of ‘unnatural peanut butter’ somewhat disturbing.

Guardian Climate Crisis: Coal Use is Not Falling Fast Enough

Environmental Activists Are Blocking The Clean-Up Of A Polluted Mining Site In Idaho

Climate change at Mount Rainier to increase ‘mismatch’ between visitors, wildflowers

Babylon Bee.

Self-quarantined before quarantine was cool.

Read it.

Persons of Color behaving badly — what are the odds?

John Hinderaker at Power Line reminds us of some pretty important truths.

Many are freaking out over the steep decline in financial markets over the last couple of weeks. Not me: I haven’t lost a nickel. Why not? I haven’t sold anything.

Sad Climate Scientists: “I see a group of people sitting in a boat … floating right into a … waterfall”

Even fish at the bottom of the ocean can’t escape climate change

Europe sees warmest winter since records began

For 9 years, multinationals like Shell and Bayer funded prominent climate denier  The swine.

More accurate climate change model reveals bleaker outlook on electricity, water

Pollution from tire wear is worse than exhaust emissions?  You could always walk.

Delingpole: Wikipedia Airbrushes List of Climate Sceptic Scientists Out of History

Jane Fonda Throws Support Behind Bernie Sanders, Calls Him The ‘Climate Candidate’  If I thought that the climate change situation was really a problem, that would scare the shit out of me.

Read it.

Rahm Emmanual famously said, ‘Never let a crisis go to waste’. Let’s hope the Administration takes that advice to heart and uses this latest hair-on-fire exercise to make some progress on the Wall.

Since I am in an ‘at-risk group’ (curmudgeonly geezers), I intend to self-quarantine for, oh, let’s be on the safe side, the next twenty years.

‘But Tim’, I hear you say, ‘you don’t leave the house anyway. What changes?’

Well, I’ll tell you: I get Pokemon Victim Points for Good Intentions; and, as we all know, Good Intentions solve all difficulties and erase all bad stuff. (And those points can be traded for valuable prizes later, and the way the markets are doing, I’m depending on them for my retirement.)

So if you should see me in public, be advised that it’s not me, and you should believe me rather than your lying eyes. Yeah.

Michael Fumento.

China is the origin of the virus and still accounts for over 80 percent of cases and deaths. But its cases peaked and began ­declining more than a month ago, according to data presented by the Canadian epidemiologist who spearheaded the World Health Organization’s coronavirus mission to China. Fewer than 200 new cases are reported daily, down from a peak of 4,000.

Subsequent countries will follow this same pattern, in what’s called Farr’s Law. First formulated in 1840 and ignored in ­every epidemic hysteria since, the law states that epidemics tend to rise and fall in a roughly symmetrical pattern or bell-shaped curve. AIDS, SARS, Ebola — they all followed that pattern. So does seasonal flu each year.

Read it.

Grab any random bottle of honey from your kitchen, coffee shop, or restaurant: According to a number of honey experts who spoke with VICE, the odds are high that your honey isn’t what it claims to be. Honey imported from overseas is often adulterated—either by having sugars added to it or by being cleaned, heated, or filtered—and then is blended with small amounts of true honey until the sticky substance is uniform.

World to end – film at 11. Women and minorities (and bees!) hardest hit.

ZMan provides a little historical perspective.

magine a variant of the flu that is four or five times more lethal than the common flu and it is spreading quickly. The experts are not sure exactly how lethal this new flu variant will be, other than it will be considerably worse than the common flu that hits every fall and winter. Further, they are unsure of the origin or how to combat it with drugs and therapeutics. Before long, it is a serious problem. This new influenza is a pandemic spreading rapidly all over the world

Now, you don’t have to imagine it, because you lived through it. The Swine Flu pandemic of 2009 infected about a billion people worldwide, according to most estimates. As is always the case with these things, the number of infected is always a best guess, as many are infected but are never confirmed. The death toll is a little easier to grasp, as it is hard to ignore a corpse, but many flu deaths are classed as other things. It probably killed half a million people.

Read it.

You have a choice. You can be a specialist, or a generalist. Which route should you choose?

My question is: Which pays more?

Read it.

If, of course, that’s what you want to do.

Don’t ever say we don’t have useful stuff here.

Read it.

pioneer of synthetic biology at the University of California, San Diego, Jeff Hasty has spent his 20-year career designing strategies to make genetic circuits in engineered bacteria work together. But several years ago, Hasty had to admit that even he couldn’t outfox the humble bacterium Escherichia coli.

Hasty didn’t have a problem engineering useful, tightly regulated new genetic traits or getting them to work in cells. That was the easy part. What’s harder, he discovered, is maintaining those traits. If a cell needs to divert some of its resources to make a desired protein, it becomes marginally less fit than cells that don’t synthesize it. Inevitably, cells acquire mutations deactivating the introduced genetic circuitry, and the mutants quickly replace the original cells. As a result, the desired characteristic disappears, often within 36 hours.

Natural selection works, even when you don’t want it to.

Read it.

Assuming, of course, that’s what you want to do.

Somebody tell Joe Biden.

Read it.

Most of us know the stories of medieval monks toiling in their scriptoria, diligently copying other manuscripts, either for their own or other monastery libraries, or perhaps as a private commission for the Duke of Thusandsuch, who had his own collection, and enough money for the purpose, and who wanted to show off his erudition and wealth. The end result, whether or not it was the tactical objective at the time, was the preservation of the wisdom of the ancients, and there’s nothing not to like about that.

But what was involved in getting a manuscript together? And suppose I wanted to duplicate the process today. What would it actually take to do that?

If, of course, that’s what you want to do.

‘I’m profoundly sad, I feel guilty’: scientists reveal personal fears about the climate crisis  The Guardian.

Cartoons: A climate change pandemic  Washington Post.

Times: Coronavirus will Kill All the Old Climate Skeptics

Read it.

How likely do you think it is that ‘the author of national pandemic strategy’ will say ‘Nah, it’s nothing to worry about’?

This is why I am skeptical of most ‘experts’.

Read it.

No, not Warren.

To find out, we spoke with industry experts, chefs, and buffet owners. As it turns out, it’s harder to “beat” the buffet than you might think.

Well, shucks.

I ate from all-you-can-eat buffets for six years — we called them ‘mess halls’, and, boy, they were.

Read it.

In the wake of Elizabeth Warren dropping out of the presidential race on Thursday night, NPR’s All Things Considered only the considered “opinion writers” who were feminist Democrats. The question from anchor Audie Cornish was “what did this primary season teach us about the state of things for women seeking the highest office?” Not considered: Shouldn’t angry feminists actually endorse a woman for president before they complain about everyone else?

Read it.

People have different ways of reacting to the coronavirus or Covid-19 situation. I have identified at least eight of them, all starting with the letter “P,” in a taxonomy that I hope is at least somewhat useful in making sense of a somewhat unusual situation.

Read it.

I’m waiting to see how ‘facial recognition tech’ fights back.

Funny how ‘artists’ never fight anything that might get them hurt, like crime or disease.

Read it.

Results are the reason that while I thought Trump a con-artist in 2016, I will now vote for him in 2020. I strongly mistrusted his character, personality, and intentions. Yet he has delivered on the promises he made in 2016. The economy is stronger, the judiciary is better, taxes and regulations are lower, the United States is safer, and our enemies are weaker. Do I like the man? No. Do I like the results he has delivered? Yes.

Give me good results over good intentions every time.

Preach it, brother.

Coronavirus Fears Thinning Attendance at Greta Thunberg Climate Rallies

UK Climate Madness: Does Boris Johnson want to Transform Britain into Tolkien’s Middle Earth?

The unholy crusade against gas appliances

Read it.

World about to end. Film at 11. Women and minorities hardest hit.

Read it.

Good luck with that.

Democrats will die in the last ditch to defend their principles — unless it gets in the way.

Read it.

Since the 16th century, Cremona’s luthiers—including Stradivari himself—have been using an unusually resonant wood from Paneveggio, known as Italy’s “violin forest,” to handcraft the world’s finest string instruments. Then a 2018 storm decimated the forest. A band of experts in Cremona is now rallying to save this iconic tradition.

Since we know you don’t have anything more important to worry about.

Read it.

… the “objective” media is falling all over itself to explain Elizabeth Warren’s collapse as the result of sexism, despite the mountain of evidence that voters (including women voters in her home state) just don’t like her. Reminds me of the old story about the dog food company that spent millions hiring marketing consultants to determine why their dog food wasn’t selling, and after a lot of elaborate theories, someone came up with a clear explanation: dogs didn’t like the food.

Read it.

That didn’t take long.