This blog posts about aviation, automobiles, electronics, programming, politics and such other subjects as catch my interest. The blog is based in northern New Hampshire, USA
Tuesday, July 14, 2020
Watched Biden on TV. Sounded much better.
Saturday, July 11, 2020
Roger Stone got his sentence commuted
Tuesday, July 7, 2020
Lies, Damn Lies and statistics. Corona virus statistics
We hear a lot of ‘em on the TV. For a scare tactic the newsies tell us that Corona virus cases are going up. Not a good sign. They finish off by calling to quarantine every body and shut everything down. Then a few newsies tell us that Corona virus deaths are going down. They finish off by calling for re opening stores and restaurants, getting back to work and ending stay at home orders. “There are lies, damn lies, and statistics” to quote Mark Twain.
The increase in the number of cases is probably because we are testing more. And the test is pretty trigger happy. A lot of people don’t have the disease, feel fine, and the test calls them sick. The medics call these cases (and there are a lot of them) “asymptomatic” a nice buzz word that means “no symptoms”. And they count them as Corona virus cases. We could just as easily say the test has shown a false positive and not a Corona virus case. And we don’t know if the asymptomatic cases are infectious or not. Nor do we know if the asymptomatic cases will actually come down with a real case of Corona virus after a few weeks. Anyhow, the number of Corona virus cases reported by the TV newies might be off by who knows how much.
The number of deaths is perhaps a little more solid. You need a death certificate and a body in order the say a death has occurred. I have heard from a number of places that the medics are under great pressure to call every death a Corona virus death because the hospitals get a larger reimbursement for Corona virus deaths than for other causes of death. At any rate the number of deaths is going down. It might be that Corona virus has already killed the most vulnerable among us and those of us that are left alive are more resistant to it. In that case we could expect the death rate to fall some more.
Corona virus is going to be around for ever. Unless we want to live hunkered down at home for the rest of our lives, we have to get out of the house, go to work, go out to eat, travel, go to the beach, all that stuff. Sooner or later we will encounter Corona virus. Mostly we will survive. I hear that once you have Corona virus you are immune to it from then on in. I have not heard any real studies of this, but it is likely and it is the general belief right now.
Saturday, July 4, 2020
Lay off the statue bashing
So if you really think that so-and-so was a no-good-nick, write a paper, write a letter to the editor, write a textbook, write a post on your blog, make a U-tube video, anything. But leave so-and-so’s statue up. People see the statue and they are more likely to read your pieces explaining why he was bad. They will at least know the name.
Wednesday, July 1, 2020
Presidential Debates for 2020
USAF mulls cargo planes for bombers
Sunday, June 28, 2020
To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever,
over such District, (not exceeding 10 Miles square), as may by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance by Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States…
US Constitution Article I Section 8.
This was an issue back in 1789. The one lucky state that got the federal
capital in its territory, Philadelphia,
or Boston or Baltimore
or even New York, would gain humongous influence over federal policy and lawmaking. And benefit from federal tax money getting
spent in their state and hotel bills paid by all the federal lobbyists. To prevent an unseemly squabble and endless
bad feelings, and not jeopardize acceptance of the Constitution by having such
a clear fighting point in it, the Founders decided to create a new green field
federal capital city, not to be part of any existing state, location to be
specified later (TBSL).
Now, in 2020 we have a bunch of DC people whining that they
don’t get any votes in Congress. I don’t
feel sorry for them. The river of
federal money pours into DC and gives the city a subway, best museums on the
planet, Secret Service and FBI and who knows what else for law enforcement,
good paying federal jobs that will not quit, Navy Yards, and the home office of
every federal agency that ever was. In
the face of this avalanche of largess, I don’t feel sorry for DC. And, any DC residents who really really want
to have a vote in Congress can jolly well move a couple of miles into Virginia
or Maryland and vote from
there.
Now I hear the Democrat US House as passed a bill to make DC
a state, with two senators and one representative. They say that DC has a larger population than
several long standing states. It got
them a lot of favorable press from all the Democratic operatives with
bylines. It would give the Democrats two
safe senate seats and one safe house seat.
As a matter of pure politics, as a Republican, I am against the idea. As a matter of process, I think they would
have to do a Constitutional amendment to rewrite Article 1 Section 8. I don’t believe they can change the
Constitution with just an ordinary federal law.
With Corona virus loose in the land, the economy shut down tight, and George Floyd riots every night, does the country have time for this kind of Mickey Mouse legislation from Democrats?