Not familiar with the thought experiment known as the Trolley Problem? Here’s an explainer:
For the longest time, the Trolley Problem was considered an abstract philosophical brain-teaser without any practical applications, but the prospect of autonomous, self driving vehicles changed that. For more about this change, see this Atlantic article: Would You Pull the Trolley Switch? Does it Matter?
I’m definitely the guy in the upper center.
On March 16th, former Texas Congressman, libertarian, and America’s worst Ayn Rand fan (which puts him up against a lot of competition) Ron Paul published an article titled The Coronavirus Hoax. It thesis is that COVID-19 may be a ploy to scare the populace into giving up freedoms in exchange for the promise to be saved by the government, a recurring theme in the monotonous litany that Randroids ceaselessly spout.
In it, he said that the reports of COVID-19’s death rate being higher than the flu as “a claim without any scientific basis,” claimed that Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infection Diseases, was “chief fearmonger of the Trump Administration,” and concluded his screed with the line “People should ask themselves whether this coronavirus ‘pandemic’ could be a big hoax.”
Republican Senator and Florida Man (in every sense of the phrase) Marco Rubio and Rand Paul having lunch together, during which time Paul was waiting for the results of his COVID-19 test. Marco, you’ve got to pick better lunch buddies.
From the Washington Post. Tap to see the source.
In a bit of irony that’s so story-like that it’ll make you suspect that we’re just characters in a novel whose writer has become bored and decided to “really liven things up,” Ron Paul’s son Rand Paul, a Republican Senator for the state of Kentucky, tested positive for COVID-19.
(And in case you still didn’t know, Rand Paul’s first name comes from Ayn Rand, because Randroids are like that. You’ll find more than a few children in Silicon Valley named after the polemicist-pretending-to-be-a-philosopher whose original name was Alisa Rosenbaum.)
Rand Paul’s office has been rather vague on when he took the test, and what he did, where he went, and whom he was in contact with between taking the test and getting the positive result, which is worrisome.
By the bye, you might not be aware that both Pauls have medical degrees. Ron was an OB-GYN and flight surgeon, and Rand was an opthalmologist. You’d think that they would know better about viruses and pandemics, but nothing about Randroids surprises me anymore.
It happened last night — a social distancing sing-along in the spirit of the ones they’ve been doing in Italy!
Yesterday afternoon, while taking a break from work (I’ve been working from home on my front porch as part of the COVID-19 measures that a lot of people are taking), I decided to get in a little accordion practice. As I wrote yesterday, got the attention Susan, of our neighbor across the street, who suggested an impromptu performance/sing-along for our corner. In about a couple of minutes, she managed to get the word out to a number of neighbors, and I was scheduled for a 7 p.m. performance! A number of our neighbors set up lawnchairs to catch the performance from a safe social distance.
Anitra took my phone and live-streamed the show to Facebook Live. I took those Facebook Live videos and stitched them together into a single YouTube video — enjoy!
There’s another one scheduled for tomorrow at 7 p.m.. I may have to play The Gambler in Kenny’s honor.
So this just happened: I was practicing accordion on the porch, and my neighbor Susan suggested a social distancing sing-along. It’s happening tonight on our corner at 7!
I’ll see about putting it on Facebook Live.
Hopefully, it’ll go better than this German’s attempt to replicate the Italian balcony sing-along:
Here are some translations:
#ResilientTPA is a hashtag that Taylor Ralph, founder of REAL Building Consultants and all-round civic-minded guy, came up with. It’s about those of us who can better economically weather the COVID-19 crisis helping those in less stable circumstances. I think it’s a great idea.
Here’s what he posted earlier:
Earlier this week, chef Ferrell Alvarez, who’s behind the following local restaurants…
…had to close down all four restaurants and lay off most of his staff. It’s all detailed in this Tampa Bay Times article: Tampa Bay’s restaurants try to adapt to an unprecedented crisis.
He has a plan to bring back his employees, one by one if necessary, but this plan depends on staying afloat. He’s reworked his business model so that you can order from a downsized go-to menu featuring dishes from his restaurants, including:
As summed up in the Tampa Bay Times article:
It’s a last-ditch effort to keep the restaurant afloat during the coronavirus pandemic, which has prompted federally mandated restrictions on restaurant operations and social distancing recommendations that are keeping diners at home. As COVID-19 continues to wreak unprecedented economic havoc on businesses everywhere, Tampa Bay restaurants and bars are scrambling to figure out a way to survive.
The project is called Rooster Redux — check it out on the Rooster and the Till site. Do a good deed and get some good food and place an order!
…but seriously, if you’re finding that your local “basic” supermarket is short on goods, go check out a nearby bodega or supermercado!