Sources Named: Who I quote and why

I doubt anyone ever noticed since no one has ever commented, but I apply a hierarchy when it comes to quoting sources to back up my statements.  Nothing undermines and argument like a dubious source, and who I quote might say something about me (e.g. Naomi Klein, yes; Naomi Wolf, no).

I always try to seek first hand sources.  If someone is quoting another, go back to that quoted source – because sometimes, even they are quoted sources.  Quotemining, biases and agendas, misunderstanding, “interpretation”, or a game of telephone – they all detract from what you’re trying to say.

Below the fold is a rough and very incomplete list of sources by what I consider their level of credibility.  Those named are not the only source I would use, and this applies to any subject or science (even though many listed are medical).  The groups listed near the top are interchangeable, several being equally credible.  Those at the bottom (less credible or fact checked) being interchangeable for credibility.

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Quarantine Borders: Island life saves lives

I’ve repeatedly talked about Taiwan’s success at combatting the CCP virus (aka Xi Sickening), but there are a lot of success stories out there.  And all of them have one thing in common: physical isolation.

Point Roberts, Washington is a tiny spit of land that was accidentally made part of the US in the 19th century when the 49th parallel was set as half the Canada-US border.  To drive from Point Roberts to any other part of the US, you must pass through Canada.  Because of its isolation, the town of 1300 has remained untouched by COVID-19.  It is effectively an island, much like South Korea.

Point Roberts an island after COVID-19 forces border closure to non-essential traffic

A Border Task Force developed by the Whatcom Unified Command is working to make sure Point Roberts residents’ needs are met as the county responds to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a news release.

The small Whatcom County town suddenly found itself on an island when the U.S. and Canada agreed to temporarily close the border to non-essential traffic in response to coronavirus on Wednesday, April 18.

That announcement meant Point Roberts, a town below the 49th parallel on the southernmost tip of the Tsawwassen Peninsula with a population of 1,314 people, according to the 2010 census, literally got cut off for non-essential travel with water on three sides and a closed Canadian border to the north.

Many places isolated by water, distance and physical barriers have been among the most successful at controlling the spread of COVID-19, whether nations or regions of other countries: the Isle of Man, Malta, Martinique, Madagascar, Gibraltar, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Iceland, New Zealand, Vietnam, Laos, Mongolia, Greenland, Sardinia, South Korea, and several others.  Several African countries currently have low counts and may end up the same because of physical separation since world travel stopped.

The oddest case must surely be Venezuela.  Despite its location and population density, is has relatively few infected cases and deaths.  Could it be that the last three years of political and economic turmoil (read: US attempts to overthrow the government) made travel so unpalatable for both business and tourists that no one wanted to go there, thus less spread of COVID-19?

There For All To See: The corruption was predictable

It doesn’t require a financial genius or the ability to read a balance sheet to predict that Cheetolini would engage in graft on a trillion dollar scale, as I said ten days ago that he would.  It only required paying attention to the blatantly obvious.

On April 7th, Cheetolini fired Inspector General Glenn Fine and other people who had the ability to say no and point out misuse of taxpayer money.  Instead, there was no oversight on how US $2,000,000,000,000 would be distributed.

Sadly and predictably, Cheetolini’s “plan” was to give 80% of the money to millionaires.  $1.6 trillion tax dollars given to the richest people, no questions asked, without having done anything to deserve it.

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People To Note: Chen Shih-Chung and Audrey Tang

Along with Taiwan’s president Tsai “Vegetable english” Ing-wen two people have been most prominent in the battle to contain the spread of COVID-19.  The position of one in the government will be obvious, the other not so much but whose work has been critical in the country’s success.  Below the fold are short bios of each and links to their government ministry profiles.

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Restraint Shown: How different people are responding

Two short and separate stories on restraint.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Earlier tonight, this woman’s story appeared in my feed.  I haven’t seen her name, but I empathize with her.  She is homeless in Oxnard, California and had mental health issues long before the pandemic began.  She reports that since then she has been dehumanized and mistreated by doctors and harassed by police.  Because of course they would, she’s powerless and vulnerable.

Naturally, the first thing asked by disgusting individuals who see the video is, “why does she have a smart phone?”

That inappropriate question is answered in another video she posted.  She explains that during Obama’s terms, a program was established to give free cell phones to the homeless.  For people with no mailing address and no public pay phones anymore (and a landline is impossible), having a cell phone is invaluable.  A person can contact shelters, public services, medical care and other places without having to travel there.  Travel is both time consuming and expensive, not to mention a waste of time if the person doesn’t know in advance if services are available.

In the second video you can see that the phone is an Alcatel phone which is probably several years old and either second or third hand.  So to anyone asking inappropriate questions: NO, the poor and homeless don’t have iphones. They have a working phone given to them that lets them make calls and take calls, not play online gaming.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

After the most recent returnees two weeks ago were quarantined, Taiwan mandated masks on all public public transportation – subways, buses, taxis, intercity trains.  If you’re not wearing one, you can’t get in or on any public transport.  I’ve had bus drivers skip past my stop because I was waiting for the bus to arrive (mask in hand) before putting it on.  Mildly annoying.

A week ago, a 20-something woman took off her mask in a subway and refused to put it on (facebook video, no other source available).  The staff attempted to prevent her from boarding the train, and only after a long 5-10 atempt to reason with her (the video is edited for length) did police finally use force to remove her.  What’s amazing is the level of restraint shown by staff, security and police, the avoidance of physical force until uncounted reasonable attempts were made.

This has been fairly common, the lack of any need to use force.  People have willingly complied with new rules because of the government’s transparency and sharing of information.  The young woman in the video is a rare exception.  There has actually been more trouble with people ignoring smoking rules than mask rules.

Let’s Remember: John Conway, 1937-2020

John Conway FRS mathematician, computer scientist and author has died from COVID-19, age 82 at his home in New Jersey (December 26, 1937 to April 11, 2020).

Conway’s most famous work was the Game of Life in 1970 (see the GIF below) which has been a mathematical recreation for decades. Its rules are simple but can produce levels of complexity that require massive computing power, but simple enough for beginning computer programmers using BASIC (e.g. me) to understand and create their own versions.  Life was proven to be Turing Complete, meaning a computer could be built within the game (thus preceding Minecraft’s computer-in-a-game by decades).  Conway despised his own creation for a long period until it found usefulness in studying cellular authomata.  Conway would likely prefer to be remembered for his dozen books as well as his work in number theory, game theory, geometry, algebra, theoretical physics and many other branches of mathematics and science.

The Guardian, 2015: John Horton Conway: the world’s most charismatic mathematician

Quanta Magazine, 2015: A Life in Games

Cornell (arXiv.org): An Introduction to Conway’s Games and Numbers

Conway was also a longtime collaborator of Martin Gardner.

Numberphile has numerous videos featuring John Conway, all worth watching.  In this video, from 2014, he reflects on his life and career.

Surprise: Women are safer drivers

I’ll bet you didn’t see that one coming.  Who would have thought that the gender more associated with violence and aggression would be more likely to speed, take risks, and display road rage?

If you watch car crash videos on youtube for any length of time, you’ll notice hundreds of hour long videos of car crashes while “women driver” videos are few and most in the five to fifteen minute range.   So why are women assumed to be the worst drivers? Because men are making the videos?

The gender of the driver isn’t the only important factor, there’s also the type of crash.  The majority of women’s crashes you’ll see in videos tend to be slow speed collisions, fender benders or inattentiveness.  The majority of crashes from high speed and aggression and from road rage incidents involve men.  Here’s two videos, one from April 12, 2020 (gender not identified, a channel that publishes two videos per week) and the newest “women only” video from two months ago (three minutes long).

From the British Medical Journal:

Men pose more risk to other road users than women

Men pose more risk to other road users than women do and they are more likely to drive more dangerous vehicles, reveals the first study of its kind, published online in the journal Injury Prevention.

[. . .]

In terms of absolute numbers, cars and taxis were associated with most (two-thirds) of fatalities to other road users. But a comparison of fatalities per distance travelled shows that other vehicles might be even more dangerous.

Lorries were associated with one in six deaths to other road users: each km driven was associated with more than five times the number of such deaths than each km driven in a car. There was a similarly high death toll for buses per km driven.

[. . .]

For cars and vans, the risk posed by male drivers was double that posed by women per km driven, rising to four times higher for lorry drivers, and more than 10 times higher for motorbike riders.

A link to the full study: How does mode of travel affect risks posed to other road users? An analysis of English road fatality data, incorporating gender and road type

The Desperate Acts, part 2: “It’s only racism when it’s me!”

It’s easy to go very wrong when writing about racism, so I’ll keep it to a miminalist (See what I did there?) and link to news and other items.  I’ll leave the evaluation to you.

Tedros Adhominem (as I like to call him) has accused Taiwan of racism, as if the democratically elected government were responsible for the acts of individuals.  Noticeably, the posts criticizing Tedros are individually written and unique, not copied and pasted like the People’s Keyboard Army in China.

Also of interest, my friend who writes Lao Ren Cha (she reads and writes Traditional Mandarin fluently) notes that some of the racist attacks against Tedros were written in Simplified Chinese, which is only used in the PRC.  Taiwanese people learn Traditional Mandarin.

Multiple news reports and video from China (links found below the fold) have shown citizens from various African countries with legal PRC residency visas (students and business people) living in Guangzhou are being evicted from their homes and arrested by police.  Beijing claims not to be directing it.

Thus far, Tedros has been completely silent on the arrests.

This meme appeared in a Taiwan facebook group today:

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Read, Think, Act: The Great Pause

Over on Medium, Julio Vincent Gambuto has written an eye opening and thought provoking item about the US and its future over the next year.

Prepare for the Ultimate Gaslighting*

Pretty soon, as the country begins to figure out how we “open back up” and move forward, very powerful forces will try to convince us all to get back to normal. (That never happened. What are you talking about?) Billions of dollars will be spent on advertising, messaging, and television and media content to make you feel comfortable again. It will come in the traditional forms — a billboard here, a hundred commercials there — and in new-media forms: a 2020–2021 generation of memes to remind you that what you want again is normalcy. In truth, you want the feeling of normalcy, and we all want it.

[. . .]

What the trauma has shown us, though, cannot be unseen. A carless Los Angeles has clear blue skies as pollution has simply stopped. In a quiet New York, you can hear the birds chirp in the middle of Madison Avenue. Coyotes have been spotted on the Golden Gate Bridge. These are the postcard images of what the world might be like if we could find a way to have a less deadly daily effect on the planet. What’s not fit for a postcard are the other scenes we have witnessed: a health care system that cannot provide basic protective equipment for its frontline; small businesses — and very large ones — that do not have enough cash to pay their rent or workers, sending over 16 million people to seek unemployment benefits; a government that has so severely damaged the credibility of our media that 300 million people don’t know who to listen to for basic facts that can save their lives.

The cat is out of the bag. We, as a nation, have deeply disturbing problems. You’re right. That’s not news. They are problems we ignore every day, not because we’re terrible people or because we don’t care about fixing them, but because we don’t have time. Sorry, we have other $#!+ to do.

As Gambuto described it, this is The Great Pause.  Right now, you DON’T have too much to do.  You DO have time to get politically involved, to pay attention, to act and to speak up.  Be aware of what’s going on.

Cheetolini attempted to shut down the US Postal Service by refusing to sign any “stimulus” bill that funded the USPS.  If there’s no cheap postal mail, next fall’s election will be the biggest Poll Tax in US history.  Only those who can afford delivery and pickup of their vote by courier (i.e. the wealthy and white) will be able to vote by mail.

Trump threatened to veto stimulus package if it contained bailout money for USPS: report

President Trump reportedly threatened to veto Congress’s recent $2.2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package if aid to the United States Postal Service (USPS) – which has been hemorrhaging money due to the pandemic – was included in the final version of the bill, The Washington Post reported.

“We told them very clearly that the president was not going to sign the bill if [money for the Postal Service] was in it,” a Trump administration official told the paper. “I don’t know if we used the v-bomb, but the president was not going to sign it, and we told them that.”
Initially, lawmakers had agreed to include a $13 billion direct grant to the Postal Service that it wouldn’t have to pay back. Instead, the country’s mail service had to settle for a $10 billion loan that made it into the final version of the bill that was signed into law.

Cheetolini wants abarely functional “economy” and people “back to work” at less than minimum wage to distract them.  It’s not just farms that will be “encouraged” to pay starvation wages that will never go back to their original levels.  With people distracted, forced back to work at half price and no voting by mail, who will have time to vote other than the 1%ers?

White House Seeks To Lower Farmworker Pay To Help Agriculture Industry

New White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is working with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to see how to reduce wage rates for foreign guest workers on American farms, in order to help U.S. farmers struggling during the coronavirus, according to U.S. officials and sources familiar with the plans.

Opponents of the plan argue it will hurt vulnerable workers and depress domestic wages.

Take notice.  Take stock.  Take action.

 

Game On: Tomorrow is baseball’s opening day!

Well, it is in Taiwan, anyway.

Recently I’ve mentioned that the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) season begins tomorrow with a full 120 game season.  The first month will be played without humans watching, however the stadiums will not be empty: They will have robot fans!  Fans will likely be allowed to attend games starting in May.

CPBL Team Puts Robot Mannequins in the Stands

With fans unable to attend the Chinese Professional Baseball League’s Opening Day on Saturday, the Rakuten Monkeys announced they’ll be putting robot mannequins in the seats. 

“Since we are not allowed to have any fans in attendance, we might as well have some fun with it,” Monkeys general manager Justin Liu told the league’s website.

Hey Marlins, just…think about it. That’s all.

The CPBL and Taiwan’s other pro leagues (e.g. Super Basketball League) may be the only ones to have a normal season this year. I was expecting other countries where baseball is popular (e.g. US, Mexico, Canada, etc.) try to broadcast CPBL games.  The quality of play is between AA and AAA, closer to AAA.  (South Korea’s KBO may also have a normal season this year, while Japan’s Pacific League is unlikely to have a season.)  CPBL game highlights can be seen on youtube, and games will be streamed online.

They are not the only sports attracting attention elsewhere.

India is “cricket mad” as the British would say.  So desperate are they for games to broadcast to their 75 million viewers that they are trying to buy broadcast rights for games in Taiwan.  I don’t know how good the quality of play is, but when there’s nothing else to watch. . . .

From the Taipei Times, April 9:

India turns to Taiwan for cricket

GLOBAL REACH: Taiwan Cricket said that up to five sides could play in a broadcast competition and that upgrading local infrastructure would be beneficial to a deal

Broadcasting companies are turning to Taiwan for cricket content amid the shutdown of the sport in India due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

An Internet streaming platform based in Mumbai, India, yesterday contacted Taiwan Cricket asking for rights to stream games in Taipei to its cricket-starved audience, which it put at 75 million people.

Yesterday, another India-based live sports streaming platform was seeking a “Taiwan cricket partnership.”

 

Wilfully Blind: Indonesia is next

It’s no secret that Beijing has falsified its numbers of infected and dead, based on their mortuaries working 24/7.  But that’s due to politics and giving the world false impressions about the situation.  Countries are starting to question everything about China, major corporations looking to move their factories to other locations.

Indonesia’s unknown number of dead can be attributed to government incompetence.  The “official number” of infected (3500+) and dead (300+) may just be the tip of the iceberg.  The country has performed only 12000 tests in a country of 264 million.

Some areas of Indonesia have abnormally high death rates, and the country’s 9% fatality rate is one of the highest in the world, eclipsed only by Spain and Italy.  Worse yet, instead of testing and limiting travel, the government spent money to increase tourism during February.  Their own government scientists anticipate 240,000 deaths by the end of April.

From the Jakarta Post, April 9th:

Indonesia was in denial over coronavirus. Now it may be facing a looming disaster

Almost no one thinks Indonesia is handling the COVID-19 pandemic well.

Until early March, the government claimed it had no cases of infection, something the eccentric health minister, Terawan Agus Putranto, attributed to prayer. The home affairs minister urged the public to eat more bean sprouts and broccoli, while President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) sang the praises of jamu, traditional herbal remedies.

The government had been in denial. Terawan dismissed as “insulting” a report by Harvard University researchers saying Indonesia must have unreported cases. As recently as last Friday, another minister was still arguing the virus cannot survive in tropical climates.

Jokowi was apparently more concerned about the threat the virus posed to trade, investment and tourism. In February, when many countries were imposing tough travel restrictions, he planned to offer discounts of up to 30% to attract tourists. His government even allocated almost A$8 million to pay social media influencers for tourism promotions.

There are indications many cases and deaths are going undetected. Reuters examined data from Jakarta’s Department of Parks and Cemeteries and found 4,400 burials were conducted in the province in March, an increase of 40% above normal levels.

But even by the conservative official figures, the mortality rate of 9% is one of the highest in the world, although this could be because of insufficient testing.

In any case, scientists at the University of Indonesia have predicted that if stricter measures do not start immediately, the situation could spin out of control, with up to 240,000 deaths by the end of April.

Tragically, widespread testing, proper treatment and tough and effective social isolation measures are unlikely to happen soon.

The government is scrambling to prepare its health system to cope, but this looks like an impossible task. Indonesia has just four doctors and 12 hospital beds per 10,000 people, and less than three intensive care beds per 100,000. These levels are way below World Health Organisation or Asia-Pacific standards.

The “health minister” says prayer will cure it.  Unbelievable.

I have said privately that Indonesia’s death toll could be in the tens of millions not publicly to avoid being called alarmist.  If it kills a quarter million in a month and the spread is getting worse, then that number is possible.

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The Desperate Acts: When your competence is questioned, claim racism

Taiwan’s government issued a strong statement criticizing Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, China’s appointed puppet at the “World Health Organization”.  Or Tedros Adhominem as I like to call him, who claims to be a “victim of racism” because people are talking about the WHO’s incompetence.

This amusing cartoon has been making the rounds today:

Have there been racist comments uttered about Tedros Adhominem from within Taiwan?  Yes, by individuals, not the government, yet he has dishonestly inferred that such individuals speak for the government.  President Tsai has invited him to come to Taiwan, though I doubt he will visit.  He would be subject to a two week quarantine before touring the country, just like any other visitor.

Tsai invites WHO chief to Taiwan amid ‘attack campaign’ controversy

Taipei, April 9 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Thursday invited World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to visit Taiwan amid growing controversy over his claim the day before that Taiwan is behind a campaign of personal attacks against him.

[. . .]

“Three months ago, this attack came from Taiwan. We need to be honest,” he said.

Tsai responded Thursday in an English-language Facebook post, writing that “I strongly protest the accusations today that Taiwan is instigating racist attacks in the international community. Taiwan has always opposed all forms of discrimination.”

“For years, we have been excluded from international organizations and we know better than anyone else what it feels like to be discriminated against and isolated,” she continued.

Tsai then invited Tedros to visit Taiwan, where she said he could “experience for himself” Taiwan’s commitment to international engagement and efforts to fight the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

“If Director-General Tedros could withstand pressure from China and come to Taiwan … he would be able to see that the Taiwanese people are the true victims of unfair treatment,” Tsai said, adding that the WHO “will only truly be complete if Taiwan is included.”

More below the fold.

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Solitude Soothes: The upside of isolation and quarantine

Oceanoxia made a good point about checking up on friend and isolated people.  I know several who have dealt with mental health issues and sucide attempts, so I agree.  However, there are other people who find great relief in quarantine.  There are also people who wish they were in isolation but can’t.

The upside of isolation

Introverts are enjoying these days, the lack of social and work pressure to interact.  There’s nothing wrong with people who don’t like having the presence of only one person at a time.  It’s perfectly normal for people to enjoy weeks without any social contact.  I have a friend who can have panic attacks in groups as small as six.  Dinner parties with friends can be difficult for her, never mind strangers.

I’m in several family estrangment groups, and many people are enjoying quarantine.  Their unwanted and either toxic or narcissistic family members cannot travel or visit.  And once you turn off the phone, close your email, and ignore social media, it’s complete silence.  They are enjoying quiet days alone, with their partners or their nuclear families sans unwanted individuals.

A few have expressed some guilt about not taking care of “parents” who were abusive.  Some of them are not mobile enough to go shopping alone.  Others might be or die alone in hospital if they  contract COVID-19.  Others are wary that abusers and narcissists see this as an opportunity to mentally control and abuse people.  There’s nothing wrong with acting in your own self-interest, and nothing wrong with shunning “family” that’s as abusive as an ex-spouse or ex-partner.

7 Reasons Some People Actually Feel Better and Happier During the Pandemic

By Jonice Webb PhD

As most folks struggle and stress to get through this messy mishmash we call “pandemic,” there is a certain group of people who are living a whole different sort of life.

These folks are actually doing the opposite of struggling and stressing. There is, in fact, something about the current situation that makes them feel better in some deep and important way.

  1. Folks with Chronic FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)
  2. Those Who Have Always Felt Alone in the World
  3. People Whose Specific Childhood Challenges Prepared Them
  4. People Who Feel Numb Unless Something Extreme is Happening
  5. Extreme Introverts
  6. Those Already Struggling With Significant Life Challenges Before the Pandemic
  7. Anxious Worriers Who Have Spent Years Anticipating Disaster

The downside of isolation

As said above, some gain isolation from abusive relationships during quarantine.  Others, however, suffer the exact opposite.  They are confined with their abusers, isolated from the outside world.  These are the people that concern me most.

I have read accounts from scores of young LGBTQIA people, forced to cohabit with bigoted families – religious fanatics, anti-Trans bigots, etc.  Job losses and lack of income has forced many of them to move back into poisonous relationships, and equally bigoted governments and welfare systems don’t care (“be grateful you have a place to sleep”).  A close friend of mine was forced to return to England and now must live with “parents” who are coercive and abusive both mentally and emotionally.  Already she is under pressure to find work that does not exist, to bring in money that they will take from her as “room and board”.

Not everyone has the confidence, self-assuredness or lack of fear that I or Wren Sanders do.

9 Strategies for Quarantining in a Non-LGBTQ+ Affirming Environment

It took me nearly two years, a global pandemic, and the prospect of spending an unknowable amount of time quarantined in close proximity to my parents to finally confront them about their habit of misgendering me. I sent a long text. I held nothing back. It was brutal — two years’ worth of don’t call me thats rolled into one six-inch blue chunk of **** you.

They’re not transphobic, I told myself. They just forget sometimes. Besides the slip-ups, they’re good, considerate, caring folks, I’d think. Dad proofread my papers even when he had no idea what I was saying. Mom went on long walks with me when my heart had broken in ways she could never fully understand.

But last week, when it was announced that New York, where I live, would likely be going into lockdown mode, I realized two things: First, that no matter how good their intentions might be, my parents’ glacial approach to using my pronouns was unacceptable; second, that if I was going to wait this out with them, I needed to explain as much. Enough was enough.

In a second message, I asked that they not respond to my first. Live in this for a while, I told them. Reflect — really reflect — on what it means for your child to tell you that they don’t feel seen by you. And they did. I am grateful that my parents took my words to heart. For this I am lucky — and for so much more: To feel secure enough at home to call out one’s parents or guardian is an immense privilege, one that cannot be appreciated enough during this deeply uncertain moment.

More thoughts below the fold.

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Music Rules: Time for a filk song

Crip Dyke beat me to the punch on filk songs, but I couldn’t put the words together until tonight.  If I am unforgiven, I understand.

Sung to the tune of “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes”:

 

Attack of the Corona Virus

 

Attack of the Corona Virus

Attack of the Corona Virus

It’ll choke you, boil you, tire you, soil you

And pain you in the head

And choke your lungs under you’re dead!

 

It started in November,

Then broke out in December,

Beijing denied it, tried to hide it,

Samples they all burned,

But Corona, it soon returned.

 

The WHO, corrupt and thieving,

Took the money it’s receiving,

They lied and lied, hundred thousand died,

Bodies no one sees

At Wuhan’s mortuaries.

 

First it spread to Iran,

Then killed thousands Italian,

Millions infected, billions expected,

Now it’s pandemic,

Stupidity made it academic.

 

A quarantine is worldwide,

Governments cause genocide,

Incompetence in continents,

Cheetolini’s gang sneers

Corruption and profiteers.

 

Attack of the Corona Virus

Attack of the Corona Virus

It’ll choke you, boil you, tire you, soil you

And pain you in the head

And choke your lungs under you’re dead, dead, dead!

 

Steamed Up: Reusing masks is possible

Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), Taiwan’s Health minister and head of the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) demonstrated on Sunday how to remove 95% of bacteria from a mask using a rice cooker.  He also demonstrated that he has never cooked rice in his own household.  (That’s forgivable.  The man was awake for two days straight back in February, organizing the response to the outbreak.)

For US hospitals short on supplies due to the Trump regime’s corruption, the ability to reuse masks could be invaluable.

Taiwan CECC head shows how to disinfect mask with rice cooker

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) head on Sunday (April 5) demonstrated how to disinfect a used mask with a rice cooker.

As surgical face masks are still in short supply despite a massive ramp-up in production, Health minister and CECC head Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) during a press conference on Sunday, demonstrated how to use a rice cooker to disinfect a mask for reuse. During a light-hearted presentation, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director-General Wu Shou-mei (吳秀梅) talked Chen through the simple steps of using a rice cooker to dry heat a mask to kill bacteria and viruses after use.

[. . .]

Wu states that a surgical face mask could be disinfected with the rice cooker method she demonstrated “four or five times.” According to Wu, research on the procedure carried out by the FDA has found that the bacterial filtration efficiency (BFE) of the masks can be maintained at a level of 99 percent when dry heating the masks in this way, even after five times.

(Normally I avoid linking to “Taiwan News” because it’s credibility is somewhere between an anonymous blog and the Daily Fail UK. But in the absence of a better source, and because it was a government-run public event, I am here.)

Taiwan recently made masks compulsory on all public transit (subway, buses, taxis) with fines for those who refuse or neglect to wear one.  Many businesses are now requiring them or they will refuse entry.

On the bright side, the number of active cases in Taiwan declined today (fewer sick people added than people deemed recovered).  That does not mean it has peaked, however, after many people ignored safety protocols during the long weekend and visited tourist spots.  There could be another rise in cases.