Thursday 16 April 2020

Cuomo Math Quiz

You woke up this morning and came to realize this math quiz problem.  The governor says that 30,000 ventilators aren't necessary.

Then he says that 100 went to Michigan, 50 went to Maryland, 435 were actually non-operational (meaning they were broke and waiting on parts), 888 were Chinese-made and only ran for 33 minutes before they overheated and had to be turned off for 3 minutes to cool, and 3,207 were actually in a unknown basement storage in Long Island that only three union guys know the actual physical address and they want $8,000 each to give you the address.

So the question is.....how many do you really have, that work, and are within the state of New York?

But the bigger question is.....can the governor himself do this math quiz?

Vent-A-Truck

It came up in the news this morning....Twitter via NY Governor Cuomo.....he's shipping 100 ventilators to Michigan, and 50 to Maryland.

So I had this reality TV series idea.

You have these four trucks which are loaded with ventilators, and crossing the country.....24-hours a day....7-days a week.

They arrive at some PR ceremony where this mayor has pictures taken with the ventilators.....then he slips them out of the back-door to another team, to take them overnight, to another mayor, who has another PR team to take more pictures.

Over a one-month.....over 3,000 mayors would sign for ventilators and claim great success.....while the four teams keep the ventilators continually moving.

I'd put the show on the History Channel.....right after Amish Mafia. 

The Odds You Might Be in a News Cult

Generally, there are supposed to be only religious cults.  Over the past decade, some folks have come to the general idea that philosophical cults can also exist.  So I've come to the point of suggesting that 'news' cults may exist as well.  They require seven conditions:

1.  Opposition to any critical thinking or reasoning capability.

2.  A preference exists to isolate people from beliefs or core groups.....then penalize them or throw fear into their heart for disbelief.

3.  Often seeking to gain 'pure' loyalty to an idea, a focus group, or political agenda.

4.  Continual use of references, data, or news to disconnect you from your family, social atmosphere, or political beliefs.  This often means using polling data to convince of a overwhelming loss, or a overwhelming victory.

5.  Challenging your mind on factual data.  This generally means creating alternate timelines which aren't factual, or laying out some fake story which seems true but lacks facts.

6.   The extreme cult members will never see the paycheck-problem arriving until it's too late.  They wake up....go into work, and then get told that no one is watching their product, and 15-percent of the 'team' have to go.  These people dismissed.....go out and find that a unrecognizable 'path' lays ahead, and their whole life was dependent on them selling cult-news, which oddly doesn't sell anymore.

7.  Finally, the cult-news team wants you so desperately to see them without regard to their behavior or audacity.  When you hint that that you are 'normal' and get corrected....the automatic reaction is to correct the person suggesting this, and let them know that they are just plain 'stupid'.  Even after a dozen events where behavior or audacity are noted....the cult-guy/gal still believes in their cult message.

The question to ask now....is there a deprogramming for this?  Maybe, but you'd have to go and spend a full year in Wyoming or some small Georgia town.....talking to regular people, and I just have some doubts that cult folks would be that eager to accomplish that. 

Humble Observations: 16 April 2020

1.  Is there a serious disparity with blacks and health?

Statistically, the answer is generally yes....but it also has a dozen factors which figure into this.

First, a lot of this is dependent on where you live.  In rural areas of the south.....blacks and whites (yep, it doesn't matter) are getting marginal 2-star care, and it's because of where you live.  The same can be said for areas of Idaho, New Mexico or the Dakotas.

Second, a fair sum of blacks have a diet which isn't helpful, and they frankly don't want your advice on eating carrots, salads, or less sugar.

Third, if you counted in alcohol consumption and drug-use, black males might be regarded as a high-risk group for health issues when they get into their 50s and 60s.

It's fair to talk about this disparity, but at the end of the discussion....other than handcuffing some folks and dragging them along, what exactly do you intend to do.....to equalize or change the outcome of this data?

2. True or false:   Did the CIA actually warn their workers around six weeks ago NOT to take the anti-Malaria drug Hydroxychloroquine for the virus?

Yes.  They made up a health note and suggested 'their' people NOT take the drug.  It's a bit odd and to be honest, the CIA normally doesn't ever offer health advice other than suggesting you should quit smoking, and you should lessen your alcohol consumption.

So it's a bit odd that their health-nurse or health-doctor spoke up on this topic and suggested this.

I would also suggest that once this got put out.....a bunch of CIA folks probably asked stupid questions, and the whole thing disappeared real quick.

3.  Is it possible in NY City to be shot forty-two times, and the Coroner assigns death by COVID-19?

Yeah, that's pretty much the case.

4.  Is it just odd that some governors and mayors are coming across like miniature Hitler-figures?

Listen, for some of these people, it's the first time in their life that they've had to manage something or write down some directives, so it's a learning process.

Now, it would bother me that a year from now....they haven't learned any lessons, and they are still acting like miniature Hitler-figures.

5.  Wasn't it just pure 'evil' for Trump to show that 4-minute video at the press conference?

Oddly, it's a video of news people saying things....NOT him or Biden.  If they hadn't said all those foolish things, he'd have nothing to show.

6.  Is there any proof that masks are that beneficial?

Ironman would say so.

7.  Would a 'President Hillary Clinton' be up and doing the virus press conferences like Trump?

No.  She would appoint the VP to carry the load.  Most of the reason is this coughing issue of hers and she wouldn't last more than fifteen minutes before sipping water and trying to prevent the cough.  Eventually, some idiot would have asked if she had the virus since she's been cough so much.

Please note, this was a hypothetical question, and a hypothetical answer.

8. What will happen to the WHO once the Trump order is effective.....to cut off the US contribution to their budget?

Well...$400-odd-million is the budget factor, and I'm guessing that they will have a little meeting and appoint some idiot to come up with an emergency plan to lay off people.  Naturally, the more worthless people will likely stay on for the next six to twelve months, until the bosses realize that they've kept the wrong people.

I expect the House to have hearings and try another impeachment deal because of the order, but that's mostly a joke.

9.  Any truth to the story that San Francisco's Board of Supervisors signed up to giving away 8,000-plus hotel rooms to homeless folks?

Yep, it was passed (unanimously) Tuesday evening.  Emergency order....requiring the city to acquire a MINIMUM of 8,250 hotel rooms for three affected groups (homeless folks, medical folks, discharged virus patients).  City is giving the managers roughly two weeks to acquire the rooms.

Cost factor?  Don't even bother bringing it up....this will more or less crap out the city in a matter of twelve months.  Figure the rough treatment by the homeless crowd.....the damages to the rooms, and the period of repair required.

I would forecast at least twenty hotels in the city will never be able to open and operate as a hotel again.....so this is a damages type future event, where a court will pay them the value of the building.

In simple terms.....you property owners in the city will be handed a bill in 2021....probably doubling your property tax.

Added to this....let's be honest, tourism in SF is dying at the present rate of homeless people crapping in the streets, so these hotels weren't expecting much of a trend for the rest of 2020 or 2021.

10.  Does the President have TOTAL POWER over the states?

Unless the states declare that they have TOTAL POWER over Washington DC, the House, and the Senate.....then Trump is correct.  The emphasis for well over a hundred years is that states wanted to deny they had any power or stamina.

It's kinda like the Marvel movie where Captain America could have picked up Thor's hammer anytime he wanted, but he chose to look puny and weak....until the right moment to act on Thanos.

So I put the ball back into the court of the fifty Governors and the 50 state-houses....do you want to correct the situation and finally let people know that you do have TOTAL POWER over DC, or do you want to play out the Captain America and the hammer routine....looking continually weak and ineffective?   Your choice.

I don't think they want to show that they have more power than Trump, the House or the Senate has.  Once you admit this 'power'....why would you need to funnel all this cash and tax revenue to DC for some fake TOTAL POWER gimmick there?