tingilinde

insecure little boys

Republican masculinity

OK - it's not just Republican males, but many of them are insecure little boys at the core.

 

 

vaccine avoidance

Deep social problems lurk.

snip

...

Dana Elden, the tenant association president and a friend of Mr. Steed’s, said she’s felt neglected by the city’s public housing authority. When the pandemic hit, she said, residents were forced to dip into funds meant for the property’s upkeep to purchase masks, gloves and hand sanitizer. They’ve leaned on local charities for Covid testing, and even for meals for hungry tenants. “People are thinking, ‘If the government isn’t going to do anything for us,’” said Elden, “‘then why should we participate in vaccines?’”

Americans began thinking about health care decisions this way only recently; during the 1950s polio campaigns, for example, most people saw vaccination as a civic duty. But as the public purse shrunk in the 1980s, politicians insisted that it’s no longer the government’s job to ensure people’s well-being; instead, Americans were to be responsible only for themselves and their own bodies. Entire industries, such as self-help and health foods, have sprung up on the principle that the key to good health lies in individuals making the right choices.

...

 

 

crumbling legitimacy

The Supreme Court fails.

snip

...

Any vigilante revivalism today goes hand in hand with private citizens’ increased ability to carry guns in public. The Supreme Court is currently considering the most important gun-rights case since it held, more than a decade ago, that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual’s right to keep handguns in the home for self-defense. On November 3rd, it heard arguments challenging a New York law that allows a license for the concealed carry of handguns outside the home, but only upon a demonstration of “proper cause.” The perverse, self-fulfilling truth is that, as gun ownership has proliferated, an individual’s claim to need a gun for protection has become more plausible. But the idea that ordinary people need to carry guns flows directly from the tradition that champions the use of force by private citizens to uphold the law, instead of—or even against—the state. Looking to the history of carrying arms in early America, the conservative Justices appear likely to extend the right to bear arms to toting guns on the street.

...

 

 

 

more must be done

The US approach to Covid is non-uniform and lame.  Of course politics and courts, but it's a major failure.

It's wrong to say science is being followed - it flat out isn't.

 

 

 

bizarre attempted vaccine dodge

Really bizarre - he must have thought other people are stupid. 

 

the jwst

A very nice piece on the James Webb Space Telescope. (I prefer calling it the Just Wonderful Space Telescope)

snip

...

The launch will begin what the astronomer Natalie Batalha called “six months of pins and needles,” as the staggeringly complex telescope will attempt to unfold and focus itself in hundreds of steps. The observatory will spend a month floating 1 million miles to Lagrange point 2. On the way, it will transform into a celestial water lily, positioning its giant blossom of gold-plated mirror segments atop an even bigger silver leaf.

“It will be our own ‘dare mighty things’ moment,” said Grant Tremblay, an astrophysicist at Harvard University who served on the telescope’s time allocation committee. “It’s going to do amazing things. We’ll be in The New York Times talking about how this is witnessing the birth of stars at the edge of time, this is one of the earliest galaxies, this is the story of other Earths.”

“Please work,” Tremblay added, his eyes fluttering upward.

...

 

 

western snowfall

Things could get bleak in a generation or two.

 

semi-theocracy

What happens when you trust large portions of your social programs to religion?

 

some things don't change

Religion opposing vaccines in the 50s - polio then.  Like today these folks opposed quite a bit.  Some things apparently don't change - we just don't notice them.

a tip of the hat to Jim

 

 

lobachevsky

Yesterday was the birthday of the mathematician Lobachevsky.  I first heard of him in a Tom Lehrer song, later learning he was a great mathematician.  Lehrer later said he didn't want to slight him, but the name just worked out for a song.  The song is a lot of fun.

american nazis

The last time around - when their hero was in Germany rather than Florida.

 

 

ken libbrecht on snowflakes

anti-vaxxers + mlm =

Seriously enhanced stupidity

 

 

 

why travel bans don't work

Unless you've completely sealed off the country weeks before an infectious disease is detected anywhere travel bans don't make sense.

Here's a simple probabilistic model for the import tis for the Omicron variant.

 

 

 

 

ink based propulsion

Something to try at home, but a bit messy..