Zed Head

Interesting report behind a paywall. https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-04-02/coronavirus-trump-pandemic-program-viruses-detection

NYC is recommending face "coverings" for everybody. We need some ideas on how to build your own at home. https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2020/04/02/new-york-city-urges-all-residents-to-wear-face-coverings-in-public-1271059

The bigger problem is how many people has he gotten to line up behind him. It's incredible. Everybody knew that Trump was a con-man and a liar, from before he was elected. Everyone was shocked when he actually got elected. But nobody expected so many people to fall in line with him, and basically become like him. I imagine that he has some sort of power, the ability to just talk his way in to people's heads until they give in. The ones that have resistance get pushed out and the rest just become zombies.

The WH briefing is still going on. Over two hours. Actually ended just as I typed that.

I didn't watch today's thing but I just came across a clip of Jared Kushner speaking. I have to say, it sounds like everything that Cuomo talks about in his briefings, just condensed. Cuomo's been talking about data-driven decisions since the beginning. The proof will be in the decisions and the results. Make things happen. Kushner's the second one.

If you step back and look at everything else going on you can see that the current administration is turning to full blame-defection mode. Even at the state level. The nursing home that had the first outbreak here in Washington state got a $611,000 fine for being out of compliance. From an inspection, by federal regulators, after the fact. Like people don't understand that inspections are supposed to prevent problems, not find grounds for punishment. And listen to Trump talking about the state's lack of "stockpiles", and how the Feds are a "last resort" after state efforts fail. Like FEMA does not have a responsibility there. It's all back to politics. https://komonews.com/news/coronavirus/kirkland-nursing-home-fined-611000-over-deadly-coronavirus-outbreak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Emergency_Management_Agency "The agency's primary purpose is to coordinate the response to a disaster that has occurred in the United States and that overwhelms the resources of local and state authorities. The governor of the state in which the disaster occurs must declare a state of emergency and formally request from the president that FEMA and the federal government respond to the disaster. "

Segue from the Saturday Night thread.

He's come out of the shadows. Jared Kushner speaks at the task force briefing The president’s son in law said the president asked him to “break down every barrier” to help the effort.

The authors might have started writing their paper before the various daily briefings. The focus from everything I've seen has been on not overwhelming the medical system. They're drawing lines on the curve charts to show the limit of the medical system. The lives saved is due to the ability to get everyone on to a ventilator that needs one, plus to give the patients the normal care that a caregiver can give when they're not beaten down by having too many patients to deal with. The authors don't really seem to address that aspect. They're just saying the the same people will die, like they're ignoring the medical care issue. I see a paper that was published even though it didn't fit the reality of the time it was published. Not uncommon. They put the work in and want to see it in print. Ironically, considering the title and the initial statements, that is dishonest.

Since one of its qualities is that it removes the need for the aluminum pedestal if you switch to a ZX distributor, comparing it to the pedestal price is reasonable.

So I've been browsing around the internet watching car videos and came across this guy who has a channel where he finds old cars and builds engines and stuff, and he built one then took it to the dyno for tuning. A Chevy 307. Guess what "best" timing was? Weird. It's at 31:30

Only because it fits with the previous post. Where are the ventilators, the DPA, who's running the show... The IHME model bumped up a bit today. Worse than yesterday. New norm. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/02/white-house-general-motors-defense-production-act-161833

Can you feel shifter movement in 3rd gear at lower RPM? Put slight pressure on it forward and backward. The shifter has a fairly direct path to the third gear coupler and gears. With the brass bushings a transmission guy could probably tell quite a bit about the transmission's condition through the shift lever. Could also just be that the bushing o the bottom of the shift lever is worn, letting the lever wiggle more.

The Slotinator

Son-in-law in Chief. Can't blame him for avoiding standing next to his father-in-law on that podium. Probably good that he's involved but it shows how incompetent the official channels are. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/01/jared-kushner-coronavirus-response-160553

Cuomo is on. Early today. I think it's a mistake to have his brother Chris on at the end of the briefing but I guess people get blinders on when it comes to family. Oh well.

Perspective. Any comparisons and calculations should be along the lines of what would the difference be if action had been taken sooner and also the effectiveness of actions. And the effect of inaction. Projections, total, are already at World War I levels. And that's just the first year. But the effect of delays and inactions, the increase above the best case scenario, could easily surpass Iraq and Afghanistan combined. The media is not really grasping or discussing the numbers, in a leadership context. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_casualties_of_war

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/01/us-gun-purchases-coronavirus-record

Not sure what you mean. Maybe they made a mistake. The current time stamp is 3:04 pm and the number is 932,605 confirmed. Looks like you caught an error in and they rolled it back. Not clear what time zone the're reporting either. I sent those guys another email about how the way they break up the USA in to states is a dishonest way to show the data. They have the states mixed in with the countries. I think that they might be bending to the will of the White House. Or just don't care. The site was interesting but it's not of much use anymore except for sensationalizing things. So, in the end, you were right, the JHU site is not of much use. I've lost some respect for Johns Hopkins. That's why I'm going to the IHME site. JHU records the past, the IHME site projects the future.

I'll probably post this link occasionally, below, just so people can see where we're at, and where we're going. Read the assumptions about the model at the top of the page, they describe things like the assumption that all 50 states will have social distancing guidelines within a week of the last update. As the assumptions change, due to reality or new data, the model will change. It could get better or it could get worse. I'll post an image of the current projections also, as a snapshot to look back on. This is the model the administration is using. https://covid19.healthdata.org/projections Read this page and it explains the assumptions in the model. http://www.healthdata.org/covid/updates

This thread was created so that people could express their thoughts freely, after their positions came out in other threads, without damaging the other threads. Don't click on anything that says "Guns" if you don't like to talk about guns. Sorry Scotta but that's a simple one. Just don't click. The thread title says "Pros and Cons", it doesn't take a side. You shouldn't have clicked and shouldn't have read. Guns are a part of American life, ignoring them doesn't make them go away. Sorry. With this thread you can read the other threads without seeing anything about guns. If this thread is removed then people will use the other threads to talk about them. I hope that it just fades away but if "guns" come up in any other thread we all have this one to point them too. Save the link.

People here are starting to get used to things, I think. Had a couple of ten foot conversations this morning. We're all just waiting. It's definitely quieter though, less traffic, both auto and people.

This is a WTF briefing. Must-watch. Trump is changing the topic entirely. Very strange. Counter-narcotics. Really looks like purposeful distraction. Not good. Trump even has the military thanking him for his leadership before they speak. Sad. Barr is up, thanks and grovels before starting... So, apparently, we are going to war with the Mexican cartels. Why now? Ambassador ??? sucks up and thanks before speaking. Embarrassing. Trump realizes that there won't be visible progress against COVID-19 for months so he is starting a new visible "effort" against another enemy. The first question from a reporter is "what has changed" since this has been going on for decades. Rambling answers. Even Barr is having problems keeping a straight face as Trump talks. Laugh/cry? Who knows. My apologies, I didn't intend to write anything. Just have to describe what I'm seeing, it's astounding. Trump made an order of PPE from Walmart and directed how to ship it. Really. Lots of talk about "The Wall". People can't get past it, they have to go around the edges. Trump reveals that he is #1 on Facebook. Yeah, the Navy guy answered a question about the Roosevelt without thanking or groveling at all. Just walked up and gave a straight answer then stepped back. The first part is over, the military, Barr and Esper leave. Trump speaks some more. The COVID-19 group comes in. Same old, name-dropping Walmart and Haynes. "Nobody's ever seen before" is on repeat. Back to classic Trump, rambling odd statements. Copying Cuomo and reading what Pence wrote, interspersed with his own bizarre phrases. No experts, just directly to questions. Trump answers a question about staying at home, nation-wide, and shows that he doesn't understand how the virus spreads. Incredible. Pence obviously does not understand "copays" in insurance. He thinks that the copay is a significant part of the overall cost of treatment. "The government will covering all copays for treatment". BFD, that's nothing. An earlier question to Trump about undocumented immigrants got the basic answer of "too bad, they're illegal". So they will get sick and spread the disease to everyone, legal or not. Another question to Pence about people without insurance got a bunch of BS from Pence about how the insurance companies are stepping up... for people that have insurance. He either doesn't get it or he's just BS'ing. Big failure in addressing how to stop the virus spread through people who don't get treatment. It's a lot of people. Now Pence is talking about transferring all test responsibility to the States. The end game seems to be to transfer all pandemic responsibility to the individual States. Typical for normal times, but these times aren't normal. Trump pretends to care about religion, and the fact that church groups can't meet. Although some do anyway. The new normal is going to be slow progress from the administration, daily death reports, and a focus on the new "counter-narcotics" war.

Watching the reporters wait for the briefing and many of them just can't resist rubbing thier nose or mouth after touching something. One guy will touch the back of a chair then another will touch the same chair and the second will sit down and rub his nose or cheek. You can watch these guys and see how the virus gets passed. They're like little psych experiments. Bill Barr is back... no doctors and a lot of military. Very different.