Road Trips...Joke-stealing...Coronavirus

ROAD TRIPS

The coronavirus has already caused us to postpone one road trip & has ominous implications for future ones. We were due to visit Nathan, Laura, Calvin, Claire during the week of March 30. After visiting with Nathan & Laura, we agreed that we should postpone this trip.

I admit to feeling a great deal of anxiety about future road trips. Will they have to be postponed? Will they end of being cancelled? These include:

• A trip to California in early June
• Our Alaskan cruise in July
• A family reunion in Omaha, also in July

DEPT. OF SHAMELESS JOKE-STEALING

Every year the Edinburgh Festival Fringe celebrates the world's funniest comics. Here's what had us giggling in our kilts this year"

• "I accidentally booked myself into an escapology course. I'm really struggling to get out of it."
• "A thesaurus is great. There's no other word for it."
• A cowboy asked me if I could help him round up 18 cows. I said, 'Yes, of course. That's 20 cows.'"
• "After learning six hours of basic semaphore, I was flagging."

CORONAVIRUS

Our governor hasn't issued a stay-at-home policy yet. Last Friday at Orphan Grain we had a staff mtg & discussed how we might work from home if the office had to close. I brought home materials to write devotions, just in case. As of this morning, our office remains open. Meanwhile, OGT will hand out 1,000 sack lunches to those 19-older, since public schools are handing out breakfasts & lunches to those 0-18.

• "Americans drop kale & quinoa to lock down with chips & oreos"  Drudge Report, 3/21
• "Deputies pull over stolen trailer full of toilet paper" ditto
• "People turn to dogs, cats, chickens to cope with self-isolation"  Drudge Report 3/22
• "Doctor in Italy:  We no longer help those over 60" Drudge 3/23
• "Chicago Catholic church bells to ring 5 times a day as call to prayer" ditto
• "Drive-ins enjoy sales boom

There’s something meaningful to the fact that no one in Congress is really arguing for the federal government to do nothing, which is not what most libertarians would be on board with now anyway. Instead, they’re arguing over the best way to increase government involvement. This is an extraordinary crisis. Government does often grow in such times in ways that linger afterward. But we have no way of knowing at this time if the attitudes and policies that emerge now will carry on into the future (or if they should). Right now, we don’t even know what’s going to happen next week.  Jack Butler, National Review Online 3/22

The inability to grasp the concept of dosages is endemic in reporting by journalists or commentary by pundits or politicians on any topic touching on science. What’s a carcinogen? Anything that can cause cancer in a sufficiently large dose. But lots of things can mess up your system in a sufficiently large dose. Enough water can kill you. Indeed, cancer itself is nothing more than an internal overdose of biological processes necessary to life. The same is true of a number of immune-system diseases. Climate-science reporting is full of this fallacy, too: The assumption that “enough carbon released into the atmosphere will change the climate” means “any carbon released into the atmosphere will change the climate.” In fact, there is all the difference in the world between pouring one bucket of water into the ocean, and pouring the ocean into one bucket of water.

Next time, be careful how much science reporting you consume. Too much can damage your brain.   Dan McLaughlin, ditto

A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that 87 percent of the deaths in Italy attributed to the coronavirus and 40 percent of known infections have been people 70 years of age or older.

The coronavirus obviously poses a threat to the health and well-being of people all around the world, but it's probably a good idea to balance the panic and all the dire forecasts with a little bit of critical thinking. Bronson Stocking, Townhall 3/22

As vice president of news for a major national radio network, I can safely say that we are perfectly able to serve our thousands of affiliates with breaking news twice each hour, 24/7, without dispatching our White House correspondent or Capitol Hill reporters to news conferences with marching orders to find ways to make President Trump look bad or to belittle his administration’s efforts in the current health crisis. Tom Tradup, ditto

Have I mentioned lately how awful the media is? Even if I have, it’s worth repeating. They really are terrible. It’s to the point right now that it is impossible to tell if many outlets and reporters are willing tools, on the take from communist China, or too dumb to realize they’re doing China’s bidding for free. Trump Derangement Syndrome has these fools obsessing over why anyone would call a virus that comes from Wuhan, China, a name that notes it came from Wuhan, China.

This is obviously a special set of circumstances, and Congress is going to act. They’re going to try to save the economy; to do good, and do it quickly. History has shown they do neither of those things well. Here’s to hoping they manage to pull off simultaneously what they aren’t very successful at doing individually. Derek Hunter, ditto

My fear is that when governments impose -- not suggest -- closures too soon, and those measures don't stem the tide sufficiently, but they do manage to destroy people's livelihoods, the public will tire of closures if and when more stringent measures are needed. Debra Saunders, ditto

Finally, reliable information is so scarce, and erroneous news is so volatile, politicized, and often sensational that any analysis is either outdated by the time it is read, or it’s based on conventional wisdom that almost hourly is revealed as fake news.  Victor Davis Hanson, NRO, 3/23

With the state governments closing down non-essential businesses, theaters, and other public and private events, we’re left with a renewed appreciation for family. We are staying home, playing games, doing puzzles, talking around the dinner table, doing our necessary chores, walking in our neighborhoods, and, best of all, reconnecting. There is time to live out love, offer support, and encourage long-avoided dialogue.  Terry Paulson, Townhall 3/23