250,000 Americans have died of COVID.
But Trump would like a recount.
— God (@TheTweetOfGod) November 19, 2020
[Exasperated sigh.]
Retweet if you agree.
— God (@TheTweetOfGod) November 13, 2020
• • • google suggested • • •
WORD SALAD: 2814 is a collaborative project of original music by t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 and HKE.
新しい日の誕生 (Birth of a New Day) is their second album, released January 21, 2015 on their own label Dream Catalogue. It was later released on vinyl with an exclusive bonus track.
• • • some of the things I read in antisocial isolation • • •
Amman, Jordan: Hand of Hercules
The most gigantic, swoony, intimidating trio of fingers in all of antiquity.
These fingers obviously belong to Hercules. Embiggenable. Explore at home.
TOWERING OVER AMMAN’S MODERN SKYLINE IS THE TEMPLE of Hercules, located at the peak of a hillside in one of the ancient city’s oldest quadrants.
Constructed between 162-166 CE during Marcus Aurelius’ Roman occupation of Amman’s Citadel, the great temple is larger than any in Rome itself. Its portico faces east and is surrounded by six, 33-foot tall columns. Measuring 100 feet long by 85 feet wide, with an outer sanctum of 400 by 236 feet, the fact that the rest of the temple remained unadorned by columns suggests to scholars that the structure was never completed, for reasons history has yet to reveal.
During the excavation process, few clues were left to help scholars unlock the mysteries of this massive half-finished, abandoned temple. But the ones that did exist were huge—albeit ambiguous. From just three gigantic fingers, one elbow, and a scattering of coins, archaeologists have agreed these marble body parts likely belonged to a massive statue of Hercules himself. Therefore, the theory goes, the temple also must have been dedicated to the half-god known for his feats of strength and far-ranging adventures.
Likely toppled during one of the area’s periodic catastrophic earthquakes, the statue fell to bits, but unlike the temple, all except the hand and elbow disappeared. As one guide put it, “The rest of Hercules became Amman’s countertops.” …
How Many Americans Are About to Die?
A new analysis shows that the country is on track to pass spring’s grimmest record.
The United States has made huge advances in fighting the coronavirus. The astonishingly high death rates the country saw during the spring have fallen, and Americans are much more likely now than they were then to survive a COVID-19 hospitalization. New treatments have, in some cases, helped speed recovery—President Donald Trump has trumpeted his own bout with the virus as proof that there is a “cure” for the illness. (There is not.) These developments have given Americans the impression that no matter how high cases surge, deaths might not reach the heights of the spring.
But the truth is grimmer. The story people want to believe about how much treatments have improved in recent months does not hold up to quantitative scrutiny.
The U.S. health-care system has not reduced the deadliness of the coronavirus since July, according to a new estimate by a prominent COVID-19 researcher, which accounts for the lags in public reporting of cases and deaths. Instead, the virus has, with ruthless regularity, killed at least 1.5 percent of all Americans diagnosed with COVID-19, over the past four months.
This rate is a major improvement, down more than tenfold from the earliest days of the pandemic, when deaths were high and the extreme limits on coronavirus testing held down the number of diagnosed cases. But in this new phase of the pandemic, when testing is more widely available and a much higher proportion of cases are diagnosed to begin with, it is also terrible, terrible news.
Because the case-fatality rate has stayed fixed for so long and there are now so many reported cases, predicting the virus’s death toll in the near term has become a matter of brutal arithmetic: 150,000 cases a day, times 1.5 percent, will lead to 2,250 daily deaths. In the spring, the seven-day average of daily deaths rose to its highest point ever on April 21, when it reached 2,116 deaths. With cases rising as fast as they are, the U.S. could cross the threshold of 2,000 daily deaths within a month. Without a miraculous improvement in care, the United States is about to face the darkest period of the pandemic so far. …
I’m a key worker, get me out of here!
‘How curious and muted a land is without its restaurants, bars and cafes’
‘Love or loathe the likes of Pret and Costa Coffee, their lights would glow as I walked along high streets, signifying human life was here.’
As I lunched on a packet of ready-buttered Soreen malt loaf, bought from a deserted WHSmith at London City Airport, I was visited again by gentle, yet nevertheless saddening end-of-the-world vibes. Not that Soreen doesn’t make a fine emergency snack: I could hurl that dark, squidgy goodness down my gullet by the yard.
The fact is that, in normal times, finding food on the go is never difficult. Airports are especially adept at removing money from my wallet, catering to my whims and lulling me into that hazy sweet spot when mealtimes are irrelevant and it seems perfectly normal to be slurping Wagamama ramen and drinking sake at 7am. Because why not? It must be dinner time somewhere.
But on this particular day at City Airport, almost everyone involved with the country’s food industry was furloughed, on very reduced hours or had been let go in the latest round of downsizings. Travelling around Britain for work during the pandemic, I’m reminded constantly of how curious and muted a land is without restaurants, bars and cafes.
Love or loathe the likes of Pret, Costa Coffee and Yo! Sushi, but their neon lights would glow as I walked along high streets, through shopping malls or to my aeroplane, signifying that human life was here and that everyday life was functioning. Lights on in a distant Pret have saved my sad soul on more than one occasion, as I’ve fallen through the door and taken the last pea and mint soup. I now often wonder if normal will ever happen again.
Perhaps not if the only people permitted to travel are individuals such as myself, who are providing “vital services”. I know, stop laughing. My family has been in light hysteria about this for weeks now. It’s almost as if they do not take seriously the notion that filming television shows for the Christmas schedule is akin to, say, performing open heart surgery or tending to the Large Hadron Collider. Yet it appears I am a vital service, so sleep easy, Britain. …
Meet Crazy Eddie, The Least Boring Grifter In American History
Back in the 1970s, you couldn’t turn on the TV in New York without a man lunging violently at the screen and screaming at you that the prices at Crazy Eddie’s were ins-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ne! Delivered in a tone usually reserved for announcing a 30-percent discount on trucker speed behind the abandoned rest stop, the ads quickly became a New York icon, parodied by everything from SNL to Futurama. In an era when the city’s main industry appeared to be burning down porno theaters for the insurance money, Crazy Eddie’s became a major success story. But who was this madman slashing prices so low on electronics?
Well his name was Eddie Antar and behind the scenes he was running all sorts of sleazy scams. Even his prices were so low mostly because he didn’t pay sales tax and bought half his TVs off the back of a truck. But by the 1980s, Wall Street was booming and Eddie decided to ditch his shitty old schemes and take Bear Stearns for everything they had. All the country’s sharpest financial wolves proved completely unprepared to deal with a streetwise hustler who got his start following people around the Port Authority and harassing them into buying a cheap stereo. Before long, Crazy Eddie, who just a few years before had been demanding customer’s shoes as a deposit, had sold over $70 million in stock and fled the country with bundles of cash strapped to his body like the Michelin Man.
Eddie’s first ad aired in 1975, when New York was at a bit of a low point. Police officers lurked at every airport, jumping out from behind pillars and frightening tourists with warnings of their imminent murder. They even printed a helpful pamphlet labeled “Fear City,” featuring a massive drawing of the Grim Reaper and warnings to “stay off the streets after 6 PM” and “try not to go out alone.” Tourists were also warned to “never ride the subway for any reason whatsoever” since “the city recently had to close off the rear half of each train in the evening so passengers could huddle together and be better protected.” The only way it could have been scarier was if every visitor got a gun with one bullet in it and a warning to use it wisely when the time came.
In reality, this was basically bullshit. Passengers were not barricaded in their subway cars, desperately holding the door shut like Train To Busan. And it was entirely possible to set foot out of your hotel at 6:01 PM without the locals burning you in a wicker man. The cops were actually just threatening to destroy the tourism industry as leverage in a massive public sector pay dispute that also saw garbage piling up on street corners and fires raging unfought. Even the city’s engineers wedged the drawbridges open and went home. New York itself had gone entirely broke (the mayor’s office had given up even keeping complete financial records) and President Ford was refusing any assistance, due to a deranged plot by supervillain chief of staff Donald Rumsfeld to turn Chicago into America’s financial capital. …
RELATED: ‘Borat 2’ star Rudy Giuliani Leads Bizarrely Surreal Press Conference
Well, folks, Rudy Giuliani is back and somehow at the forefront of yet another controversy — this time, involving bizarre lies, running hair dye, and odd references to classic ’90s cinema. On Thursday, the Borat Subsequent Moviefilm star hosted a press conference “overflowing” with so many whopping lies and baseless conspiracy theories centering on widespread voter fraud, that CNN and MSNBC chose not to air the event, according to The Daily Beast, with Fox News broadcasting the ordeal, later clarifying it was pretty much all a lie. Nice.
Over the course of 90 minutes, the President’s legal team, who referred to themselves as an “elite strike force,” provided no backing for these unfounded allegations, with attorney Sidney Powell wrongfully claiming that George Soros and Venezuela interfered in the presidential race, as Guiliani did what he does best — well, other than sticking his hand down his pants in front of young women — going absolutely off the rails. When he wasn’t falsely pinning Trump’s loss on Michigan “overvotes,” mail-in-ballots, and failures of officials in Pennsylvania, CNN reported, Guiliani wandered off task with several tangents, including one about the beloved 1992 court dramedey, My Cousin Vinny.
Referencing bogus claims that republican poll watchers weren’t allowed to get close enough to watch ballots being counted, Guiliani suggested adopting a legal tactic from the film, referencing a famous scene where Joe Pesci holds up his fingers to prove a witness couldn’t have observed part of the crime due to poor eyesight.
“Did you all watch My Cousin Vinny? It’s one of my favorite law movies, because he comes from Brooklyn,” he said, “And when the nice lady said she saw, and then he says to her, ‘How many fingers do I — How many fingers do I got up?,’ And she says, ‘three.’
Rudy: Did you all see My Cousin Vinny? pic.twitter.com/SVwMNiIysi
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) November 19, 2020
Although this display confused many, Jonathan Lynn, the film’s director, says he wasn’t too excited about the reference, for more than just Guiliani’s mediocre Pesci impression. “I regard Giuliani’s praise of My Cousin Vinny as generous from the man who is currently giving the Comedy Performance of the Year,” He quipped to The Hollywood Reporter. It looks like Guiliani is gonna need some ice for that burn — oh, and maybe a towel to sop up his running hair dye, too? …
Iconic Puerto Rico telescope to be dismantled amid collapse fears
The iconic Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico is to be dismantled amid safety fears, officials have announced.
A review found that the 305m telescope was at risk of catastrophic collapse, following damage to its support system.
It concluded that the huge structure could not be repaired without posing a potentially deadly risk to construction workers.
The telescope has been a key scientific resource for radio astronomers for 57 years.
Sethuraman Panchanathan, director of the US National Science Foundation (NSF), which funds the telescope, said in a statement: “NSF prioritises the safety of workers, Arecibo Observatory’s staff and visitors, which makes this decision necessary, although unfortunate.”
The telescope consists of a radio dish that’s 305 metres (1,000ft) wide with a 900-tonne instrument platform hanging 137m (450ft) above. The platform is suspended by cables connected to three towers.
Engineers had been examining the structure since August when one of its support cables snapped. …
Covid: Pizza worker’s ‘lie’ forced South Australia lockdown
Adelaide went into lockdown with the rest of South Australia on Wednesday.
South Australia decided to enter a state-wide lockdown based on a lie told by a man with Covid-19 about his link to a pizza shop, police say.
The strict lockdown began on Wednesday after the state detected 36 infections, including its first locally acquired cases since April.
But this would have been avoided if the man had told the truth, that he worked shifts at the shop, officials said.
He said he only went there to buy a pizza.
This misinformation prompted health officials to assume the man had caught the virus during a very brief exposure and that the strain must be a highly contagious one. …
Video Goodnesses
and not-so-goodnesses
and not-so-goodnesses
Election officials who go against President Trump’s desire to overturn the election results face death threats, Trump’s legal team is trying to force a vote in the House, and Rudy Giuliani has the worst hair day of all time.
THANKS to Comedy Central and The Daily Social Distancing Show with Trevor Noah for making this program available on YouTube.
As advisors press the president to prepare for the conclusion of his term, presidential lawyer Rudy Giuliani looks like he’s melting under the pressure of trying to overturn the election for his client.
THANKS to CBS and A Late Show with Stephen Colbert for making this program available on YouTube.
Virtue Signal’s Kylie Weaver hypothesizes how Trump will be removed from office in January. Plus, New York Times cybersecurity expert Nicole Perlroth breaks down Trump’s election fraud disinformation with Jeremy and Rajat. Watch the full segment on CBS All Access.
Seth takes a closer look at Rudy Giuliani’s meltdown on live television and Trump trying to overturn the will of Michigan voters.
THANKS to NBC and Late Night with Seth Meyers for making this program available on YouTube.
FINALLY . . .
3 reasons for information exhaustion – and what to do about it
A woman views a manipulated video that changes what is said by President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama.
An endless flow of information is coming at us constantly: It might be an article a friend shared on Facebook with a sensational headline or wrong information about the spread of the coronavirus. It could even be a call from a relative wanting to talk about a political issue.
All this information may leave many of us feeling as though we have no energy to engage.
As a philosopher who studies knowledge-sharing practices, I call this experience “epistemic exhaustion.” The term “epistemic” comes from the Greek word episteme, often translated as “knowledge.” So epistemic exhaustion is more of a knowledge-related exhaustion.
It is not knowledge itself that tires out many of us. Rather, it is the process of trying to gain or share knowledge under challenging circumstances.
Currently, there are at least three common sources that, from my perspective, are leading to such exhaustion. But there are also ways to deal with them. …
Ed. More tomorrow? Possibly. Probably. Maybe. Likely, if I find nothing more barely uninteresting at all to do.
ONE MORE THING:
Hormel CEO Dares Anyone To Try And Come For His Chili Empire https://t.co/fnEwOJRpsU pic.twitter.com/6NSxv0BnhM
— The Onion (@TheOnion) November 20, 2020
AND ANOTHER:
"To those who are trying to silence me — you will fail miserably!"
Well, the man knows a thing or two about silencing people. Gay escorts, for instance. https://t.co/mxWJet8tfy
— God (@TheTweetOfGod) November 18, 2020
The Trump Presidential Library will be a deleted Twitter account.
— God (@TheTweetOfGod) November 7, 2020
