The Sicatoka

Why do the newspapers scream the "134" number ... but not the the "2757" number? You know what number I want? 4.86% <-- That's the daily number* I need to hear because it has some context. The 134 means nothing on its own. *The math is left to the reader.

Vitamins C and D, and zinc, are the old school words that keep showing up in reports. And yeah, I'm also crunching Airborne for the vitamin C, as well as being very good about taking the daily multivitamin. Fundamentals.

I'm not a doctor, I don't play one on TV, and I didn't stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night, however, from what I've read HCQ is not the main actor but is best as the catalyst for zinc to act as the virus blocker to the cells. If the President is not taking a zinc supplement as well he's not getting full value. That said, I had a grandmother who was not sick a day of my time knowing her. (Died of stroke.) She always had old school zinc throat lozenges in her house from Halloween to Easter and took one daily. If you came to visit you got to suck on one of those metallic beauties. She claimed it was for the throat to stop cold and flu. Now this HCQ and zinc stuff ... interesting ... I was on a vitamin D supplement before this. When this all started I went grandma old school and found some elderberry zinc supplements online (sorry grandma, but mine taste way better). And those two, zinc and D, keep showing up in various journals. Could it be fundamental overall immune system health, including vitamins and minerals, is key.

Great. < facepalm > https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/over-100-million-in-china-e2-80-99s-northeast-face-renewed-lockdown/ar-BB14ev9M

They need the tax revenues.

The editorial: https://www.inforum.com/opinion/editorials/6491333-Forum-Editorial-We-must-protect-livelihoods-not-just-lives

Experts are great at one-dimensional, single variable thought. But the world is a multi-factor problem. And this is why experts in one field are wrong far too often. Scott Adams’ book “Loserthink” is a pretty good treatise on why one—dimensional thinking gets you in trouble and how to think multi-factor. I didn’t realized I’d followed the advice until I realized I can think as a design engineer, an educator, a software geek, member of a board with fiduciary responsibilities to thousands, a testing specialist, a former power of attorney for a parent, and a former farm kid. Thinking about problems from all those perspectives is a good thing. If you only see things from one angle, you’re not seeing all of it.

Credentialed authorities are comically bad at predicting the future. But reliable forecasting is possible. Read More: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/06/how-to-predict-the-future/588040/?utm_source=atl&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=share

When have you witnessed acquired power given up willingly.

Based on some recent tweets by him, it seems Mr. Schlossman may not completely agree with the Fargo Forum’s editorial board’s take today that (paraphrased) we must protect livelihoods as much as lives. PS - Since “skin in game” cred seems to matter here: You all know I lost my mother to Alzheimer’s recently. The same unit just test up 100% positive in the residents. Did I mention I have an uncle in that ward?

Regarding reporting: ”88 new cases!” — Ohhhh-kaaaayyy .... 1. They are not “new”. Testing just found them. Testing is a lagging indicator. (And speaking as a guy who’s done a lot of engineering testing, if test finds it, it’s too late. It’s already there and the money is spent, and you’ll spend even more to fix it.) 2. 88? How many tests were done? If that’s 88 for 88, gulp. If that’s 88 of 88,000,000 tests, yawn. (<— PS - that’s about the rate of leprosy cases in the US annually, yes, like Biblical lepers.) 3. Sample bias. We’re testing folks suspected. You’re starting with a biased sample set. You’re going to have more “finds”. Think of it this way, if you know fastball is coming you’re going to sit on the fastball and have a better at bat. Anecdote time: About 20 years ago I had reason to deal with media over a civil matter. I then learned that most media are not all that inquisitive or up on Civics 101, nor are they STEM minded. (I had to explain to a reporter what the ND Century Code is!) After consulting with my personal press advisor (PCM), I came to the conclusion that I (and you) should believe about half of what you see or read in the news. The raw data will more than likely be correct; however, the context or understanding of what it means will be questionable at best. And to ask them to explain why “percent daily positive” is more of a key stat than the raw “daily positives” number would be asking too much.

I’d love to see a chart of elevators and escalators per square mile compared to Covid cases per square mile. Like I said a while back, the story of this will end up being dense populations, ... and dense populations.

https://nypost.com/2020/05/16/why-life-went-on-as-normal-during-the-killer-pandemic-of-1969/

1. As we say here frequently, we don’t have all the data yet, and it keeps changing. Please stand by. 2. If this was a hostile act, it would be biological warfare and under international standards a nuclear response is in play. (Chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear the same category of warfare weapons.) Dare I gently say I’d call to permanently sterilize the wet markets.

Batting practice Home Run King 2020.

I miss it on the playing surface more and more each day.

< drops snarky comment about women's hockey > < flees for exit >

Source

< Cynicism Alert! > They got us all to stay home for a month. Now they have us all wearing masks, the sillier the better. Next, will they have us all ... (Oh PCM ... where have you gone ... )

But the choice between staying home indefinitely and returning to business as usual now is a false one. Risk is not binary.

I see folks saying ‘restart’ being told to “lick a doorknob” aka practice what you preach, take the risk. Should folks saying ‘stay locked down’ be told to quit their jobs and then jailed for stepping foot outside?

“ ... find a cure.” It’s right over there by the cure for the common cold.

The second round of Covid-19 problems won’t be the virus. It will be an economic, social, and mental health based pandemic that will make the first round look like the sniffles.

A vastly under appreciated bass riff I must say (and I do, speaking as a guy who’s held a long neck for a few minutes or so).

I need antibodies Antibodies not flu Everybody needs antibodies, oh yeah I need antibodies Hey what about you We all need antibodies, hey Another report, another two weeks burned It's the distance keeps us insane But when the data leads to wallow We do it all again, all again, yah I need antibodies Antibodies not flu Everybody needs antibodies, oh yeah I need antibodies Hey what about you We all need antibodies, hey Apologies to Bryan Adams and his song “Somebody”.