Surely there are people in the White House trying to tell him these are hurting him now?

The very nasty cornavirus

This article at Science should make anyone really, really want to avoid catching this coronavirus:

How does coronavirus kill? Clinicians trace a ferocious rampage through the body, from brain to toes

As the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 surges past 2.2 million globally and deaths surpass 150,000, clinicians and pathologists are struggling to understand the damage wrought by the coronavirus as it tears through the body. They are realizing that although the lungs are ground zero, its reach can extend to many organs including the heart and blood vessels, kidneys, gut, and brain.

“[The disease] can attack almost anything in the body with devastating consequences,” says cardiologist Harlan Krumholz of Yale University and Yale-New Haven Hospital, who is leading multiple efforts to gather clinical data on COVID-19. “Its ferocity is breathtaking and humbling.”

Understanding the rampage could help the doctors on the front lines treat the fraction of infected people who become desperately and sometimes mysteriously ill. Does a dangerous, newly observed tendency to blood clotting transform some mild cases into life-threatening emergencies? Is an overzealous immune response behind the worst cases, suggesting treatment with immune-suppressing drugs could help? What explains the startlingly low blood oxygen that some physicians are reporting in patients who nonetheless are not gasping for breath? “Taking a systems approach may be beneficial as we start thinking about therapies,” says Nilam Mangalmurti, a pulmonary intensivist at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP).
 

Been said before, but worth repeating

As seen on Twitter:

and some answers that follow:

Revenge of the chickens

I think Tim T might like this story.

I was looking around for stories of Buddhist near death experiences (as you do) and found this one on a website, as extracted from a book by a Thai (I think) monk.  I thought it most remarkable for the role chickens play in it.  [My bold if you want to get straight to the chicken parts]:

I, Phra Tanasiri Sirisumphan, a Buddhist Monk, was accompanying my cousin as he traveled to another province. I was thirteen years old at the time. While we were traveling, I came down with a toothache. I went to a dentist, who took the offending tooth out. I felt much better, but I still had some pain. I went to a hotel to sleep. But instead of falling asleep, I lost consciousness. When I came to, I found two Yamatoots. One of them was standing at the head of my bed, and the other at the foot. Both of them were holding torches. They looked about thirty years old, and had very dark skin. They said only “let’s go”. I asked them “where are you taking me?” They answered: “don’t ask”. I stood up and followed them. One of them said to the other: ” He is too young, so I’m not going to help you. You do it alone, I have another job to attend to”. Eventually, the remaining Yamatoot forced me to go with him. I followed him until we came to a crossroad. I became afraid at that point because I had lost my bearings, and would not be able to find my way back. Finally I came to a temple wall. The Yamatoot took me to a large gate Where I saw a monk giving a sermon to a group of elderly men and women. I made the formal gesture of respect to the Monk, and as I did so, I realized that the truth and highest form of help was to be found in The Lord Buddha, His Teachings, and those who ordain to follow his way (The Buddha, The Dharma, and the Sangha – also known as the “triple gem’).

I walked to a classical style pavilion (Sala). The Yamatoot told me to wait for someone who was coming to meet us. A very large Yamatoot arrived who was wearing ancient armor, and carrying a spear. He was accompanied by a group of normal-sized Yamatoots, all of whom were carrying weapons. I felt that the situation was becoming very bad.

They took me to the house of Yama, the Lord of the Dead. Yama told me that I had committed many sins, especially in having butchered a number of chickens. I denied it, I said that I had not done that, not even once. Yama was surprised, and asked his records keeper.”How old is he?” “Thirteen years, Lord”, came the answer. “What’s his name?” My name was read out. Yama said: “You’ve taken the wrong man. Take him back. Quickly. You’ve made a mistake”. I said that, before I returned, I wanted to see hell. Yama answered: “No. The last thing I have to say to you is that you will die when you are 27 years old. Be ready”

Yama assigned a Yamatoot to accompany me back. He took me back to the crossroad where he said that I must go on from there alone. I was afraid, and asked him to take me all the way back. He said that I must go on alone. I walked on alone, and tripped on a tree root. I then revived.

When I was 27, I was ill with a stomach ache that lingered on for a year. My doctor advised surgery. I went in to the hospital, and the procedure began with anesthesia. As soon as I was under anesthesia, I saw the same Yamatoot. I remembered from the last time I had died and been revived. As he led me to hell’s gate, I walked past a torture chamber. The first thing I saw was a big copper pot full of boiling water. It was full of people who cried out from fear. A Yamatoot stood by guarding the people who were being tortured in this way. I walked away from this scene and came to a stand of barren tamarind trees. Their normal bark was replaced by thousands of sharp spikes. Yamatoots at the foot of the tree forced people to climb these trees by prodding them with spears. I didn’t ask why these people were being tortured in this way. I already knew. They were being punished (for sexual wrongdoing). I continued down the same road and cams to some stairs. At the top of the stairs was a flock of birds. I climbed these stairs and found myself in the judgment hall of Yama’s palace. I knew that they were ready to judge me for my sins. A giant rooster appeared who told Yama that I had killed him. He emphasized that I had tried to kill him again and again. The rooster said that he remembered me exactly. An entire flock of roosters also appeared and testified that I had killed them, as well. I remembered my actions, and I had to admit that the roosters had told the truth. Yama said that I had committed many sins, and sentenced me to many rebirths both as a chicken, and many other kinds of birds. After these births, I would then be reborn as an angelic being (Thevada) due to my having performed meritorious actions many times. After Yama was finished reading my sentence, he commanded a Yamatoot to take me to the place were I was to receive additional punishments. But, quite suddenly, an enormous turtle appeared. It screamed at Yama, saying “don’t take him; he Is a good human, and he should be allowed to live.” Yama asked the turtle ” what did he do to help you?” The turtle answered. “Long ago, I almost died because another of these humans wanted to eat me. This man prevented him, and so, I was able to live out my life.” Yama asked the turtle if he had any evidence. The turtle asked to be turned upside down, and told Yama to look at his underside where he would see where the man had carved his name so many years ago.

Yama saw the man’s name was there, just as the turtle had said, and believed the turtle’s story. Yama announced that he was canceling the sentence, and told me that when I revived, I was to take a vow not to kill any living thing. He said that it was especially bad to kill animals because they had to live through so many lives in order to be reborn as humans. “Love the animals”, he said, “as you love yourself”.

A COVID-19 victim with a Spielberg connection

One of the best features of Spielberg's early 1980's movies ET, Empire of the Sun and The Color Purple was the pleasing cinematography.   I've noted before that movies at that time often had a warm, glowing look in the cinematography which I think is quite distinctive in retrospect, and still a pleasure to behold.  Cinematography, perhaps because it is mostly digital now*, has a colder, cooler look about it, usually. 

The cinematographer of those 3 films, Alan Daviau, has died aged 77 from COVID complications.

Sad.

* just found this graph from January 2016 that illustrates the change:

Boris not beloved by all

Isn't it a little odd that, at a time when his catching the virus and apparently coming close to death could be enhancing his popularity as (at least in one respect) a "man of the people" who shares their suffering, it is the Sunday Times that gave voice to internal critics of his early low interest in the looming problem of COVID-19?  

Well, I think it odd.  Doesn't bode all that well for his future, too...

Astroturfing for Covid-19

People noticed how protest groups around the country all used printed out signs with the same fonts.  It is an astroturfed movement.

Explanation of astroturfing:

And of course the poisonous, dangerous Fox News would be part of it:

Product endorsement

Send me money, Seahs!  I like your sachet of spices that makes for a super quick meal-in-one if you add some diced capsicum, shallots and chopped up bok choy (eat with rice, of course):

I recommend the gif...

https://twitter.com/TreyCallaway/status/1251273373922897920?s=09

See if I can make that easier...link here.

Amusing...

It's a parody account, so don't go thinking Gerard himself came up with this:

Tells a tale of current society

These are some very sad, topical circumstances ripe for discussion by social critics - or perhaps by a novelist of the Tom Wolfe variety, if there are any of those left: 

An Uber driver has died from Covid-19 after trying to hide his illness for fear that he would be evicted if his landlord found out, a friend has revealed.

Rajesh Jayaseelan, a married father of two who came to London from India about a decade ago, died alone in Northwick Park hospital in Harrow on 11 April, according to Sunil Kumar, a friend of his.

The 44-year-old driver had “starved” for several days in his rented lodgings, telling his wife by phone that he did not want to leave his room because other residents might realise he had Covid-19 and he would be thrown out.

Kumar, 38, an NHS IT worker, said the fear was founded in an experience in March when a previous landlord allegedly ordered him to leave because he thought Jayaseelan, as a minicab driver, would spread the disease to him and his family. Jayaseelan had to sleep in his car for several nights.

By the time he drove himself to hospital earlier this month, his condition was becoming critical and he was placed on a ventilator. He died shortly after his wife and mother in Bangalore saw him unconscious in a final video call arranged by Kumar.

Jayaseelan is the third Uber driver confirmed to have died from Covid-19 in the capital, but there have been reports of several more.

Flippancy as the marker of foolishness

Tim Blair has it in spades; so does James Morrow.  Andrew Bolt tends less to flippancy but more to bloviating outrage - it is truly corrupting to pay a person to have a strong opinion on everything for a living.   They are too "culture war" to call out dangerous, foolish and stupid statements by Trump because (surely this is their true sentiment) "of course he's an offensive idiot, but he's our offensive idiot; and isn't it funny how he upsets the libs!"

Latest example:

Yet here's Gray Connolly's take on the afternoon briefings by Trump which (according to polling) are in fact doing him no favours at all in terms of approval:

Too sealed into their own bubble of foolishness to laugh at

Long the home for aged right wing cranks who are often so unpleasant they boast about how their comments to even Murdoch media (or calls to talk back radio) are banned, I mostly post about Catallaxy with at least some degree of amusement at their obliviousness to reality and wild exaggeration.

But you know, their commentary on COVID-19 has put me off visiting the site for more than the briefest look.   The intensity of the Dunning Kruger effect on this issue there is just so high that it doesn't seem the slightest bit funny.  Perhaps I find it more disturbing than usual because, with an obvious problem that is unfolding over a short time frame (much faster than the time scale of climate change), it becomes just plain offensive that they do not let their bubble of insouciance be interrupted by something even as plain as dead bodies accumulating in foreign countries, foreign leaders skirting close to death, or the extremely worrying death rate amongst doctors and nurses trying to tend to the ill.

There comes a point where stupidity stops being funny and becomes offensive.  That site has reached it.
  
[To clarify:  as would be plain, I have felt disgusted with the site many times before, with its misogyny and racism that has often been let slide through, not to mention its active campaign against political action on climate change.  But on this issue, it feels more directly offensive because of the immediacy of the life or death choices involved.]

So he's always been an idiot. Got it.

Update:  more wisdom from Erin:

She also re-tweeted this:

More fun comments on Gideon:

Update 2:

Gideon rejoins:

Lol - Daisy Cousens?  She's proof that conservatism is the new cos-play for flippant twerps like you, Gideon.

Update 3: 

Top marks for creativity in policing, I suppose

Spotted at the Jakarta Post:

Not sure what the implications of this might be...

...but it sounds an important finding:

Sweeping testing of the entire crew of the coronavirus-stricken U.S. aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt may have revealed a clue about the pandemic: The majority of the positive cases so far are among sailors who are asymptomatic, officials say.

The possibility that the coronavirus spreads in a mostly stealthy mode among a population of largely young, healthy people showing no symptoms could have major implications for U.S. policy-makers, who are considering how and when to reopen the economy.

It also renews questions about the extent to which U.S. testing of just the people suspected of being infected is actually capturing the spread of the virus in the United States and around the world.

The Navy’s testing of the entire 4,800-member crew of the aircraft carrier - which is about 94% complete - was an extraordinary move in a headline-grabbing case that has already led to the firing of the carrier’s captain and the resignation of the Navy’s top civilian official.

Roughly 60 percent of the over 600 sailors who tested positive so far have not shown symptoms of COVID-19, the potentially lethal respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus, the Navy says. The service did not speculate about how many might later develop symptoms or remain asymptomatic.

“With regard to COVID-19, we’re learning that stealth in the form of asymptomatic transmission is this adversary’s secret power,” said Rear Admiral Bruce Gillingham, surgeon general of the Navy.

More tweets of note

Here:

And in response:

Not sure about season 3...

...of Babylon Berlin.  It's still very watchable, but the storyline just seems much more about a few murders than about the hotbed of politics around them, which was what made the first two seasons so intriguing.  And the crimes themselves (and now the occult connection, not to mention how Rath didn't recognise his brother was his, what?,  psychoanalyst/hypnotist?) all seem a tad implausibly theatrical.  

Overall, the first two seasons seemed to have a grander scale, both thematically and visually, and a greater sense of realism.  

Does anyone disagree?

As they say - "wut??"

From the network that spent years denying Russian interference.   Will the breakfast team try to walk back from this slip of the truthful tongue, or just hope Dear Leader didn't notice?

Seems true