You should read this for 9/13/2020:
Art, Music, and Film
George Takei: ‘Getting cast as Lt Sulu in Star Trek was life-changing’
‘The Princess Bride’ cast is reuniting to raise money for Wisconsin Democrats
Books, Libraries, Writing, and Language
With schools closed, public libraries are being used as day-care centers, angering some people
Coronavirus | COVID-19
How to Avoid Toxic Positivity (And Handle It When It Comes Your Way)
Zuckerman goes on to say that toxic positivity can take many forms, including but not limited to: a friend or family member who scolds you for expressing frustration about something instead of actually listening to why you’re upset; or comments like “look on the bright side,” “be grateful for what you have,” “it could actually be much worse,” “if you stay positive, something good will come your way.” (There are so, so many.)
David Frum: I Crossed Back Into a State of Denial “At the Canada-U.S. border, I encountered a study in contrasts.”
H/T Jeff C: Results Are In: Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Was A COVID ‘Super Spreader’ Costing Billions
. . . for the month in which Sturgis took place, the rally was responsible for a fifth of the cases in the entire country
. . .
If we conservatively assume that all of these cases were non-fatal, then these cases represent a cost of over $12.2 billion, based on the statistical cost of a COVID-19 case of $46,000 estimated by Kniesner and Sullivan (2020). This is enough to have paid each of the estimated 462,182 rally attendees $26,553.64 not to attend.”
High numbers of Los Angeles patients complained about coughs as early as December, study says
The number of patients complaining of coughs and respiratory illnesses surged at a sprawling Los Angeles medical system from late December through February, raising questions about whether the novel coronavirus was spreading earlier than thought, according to a study of electronic medical records.
The authors of the report, published Thursday in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, suggested that coronavirus infections may have caused this rise weeks before U.S. officials began warning the public about an outbreak.
. . .
The study authors searched outpatient and emergency department reports that used the word “cough,” and tallied the number of people hospitalized for acute respiratory failure.
That approach revealed an uptick in patients that began the week of Dec. 22 and remained elevated for 10 weeks. The number of extra people exceeded the researchers’ predictions by 50 percent, totaling about 1,000 more patients compared with the previous five flu seasons.
Education
Judge Dabney L. Friedrich ruled that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and the U.S. Department of Education violated the clear language of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act in issuing a regulation that would illegally divert desperately needed funds away from public school students for the benefit of private schools.
The Pandemic Has Researchers Worried About Teen Suicide
If a teen talks about harming themselves or wanting to disappear, a parent should ask directly, “Is that something you think you might really do or you think about doing? Or are you just letting me know that you’re very upset right now?” And, she adds, hear them out without dismissing what they’re saying.
She also says parents should look out for anger: “In teenagers, uniquely, depression can take the form of irritability. That depression in teenagers sometimes looks like a prickly porcupine. Everybody rubs them the wrong way. And that is easy to miss because sometimes we’ll just dismiss that as being a snarky teenager.”
Investigation into US professor sparks debate over Chinese word
Food and Drink
5 Comforting Dinners to Make this Fall Recipes use canned tomatoes to make Quick & Easy Hamburger Soup, Slow Cooker Taco Soup, Tomato Tortellini Soup with Italian Sausage, and Fettuccine with Creamy Tomato Italian Sausage Sauce.
History and Archaeology
5,000-year-old tomb on Orkney designed to “ease passage to afterlife,” research finds
The tombs, referred to as ‘houses for the dead’, showed similar layouts to that of domestic houses.
Ms van der Reijden’s found the side chambers showed inverted architectural designs to give the effect that the chamber is within the underworld.
Science and Nature
Hundreds of Americans Planted ‘Chinese Mystery Seeds’
In late July, America was briefly enthralled with “Unsolicited Seeds from China,” which started showing up in mailboxes in all 50 states. These mystery seeds prompted warnings from the USDA, which said people should not plant them, and should instead alert their state agricultural authority and mail them to the USDA or their local officials.
Many Americans heeded this advice. Many more decidedly did not.
Society
Neil Kinnock on Biden’s plagiarism ‘scandal’ and why he deserves to win: ‘Joe’s an honest guy’
“Joe is honest, he’s courageous, he’s well-informed and experienced, and most of all, he’s rational, all things that Trump isn’t. One of Joe’s greatest strengths, I think, certainly a natural attribute is that he’s normal. He really is the well-informed guy off the street and in an age when voters are looking for authenticity, he is the real thing.”
The Government Has Been Binging On Classification. Senators Say It’s Time To Start Purging.
Under the current system, costly resources are used to hold on to records that no longer require classification resulting in an unnecessary waste of taxpayer dollars. The cost of the government’s classification system now exceeds $18 billion annually. Additionally, when records are kept classified for reasons that have nothing to do with national security, historians, journalists, public watchdogs and all Americans are denied their right to research historical events or examine the actions of their government to hold it accountable. As the line between classification for national security and pointless secrecy is blurred, public trust in government erodes.
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Technology
Facebook engineer quits, says company is “profiting off hate”
Chandwaney’s [resignation] letter is full of links citing specific incidents of Facebook’s failures, such as the company obstructing an investigation into genocide in Myanmar and failing to remove an event encouraging people to shoot and kill protesters in Kenosha. [They] also referred to President Donald Trump’s infamous “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” post from May 29, which Facebook has still refused to remove. In contrast, Twitter hid a post from Trump that used the same phrase for “glorifying violence.”
Women’s Work
Armed guards provided for threatened lesbian couple
How Victorian female brewers broke the (pint) glass ceiling
n Anglo-Saxon times women made beer at home at the same time as baking bread. They were known as brewsters, and the best in the village turned their homes into an early version of a pub.
Hester Parnall, head of the St Austell Brewery in Cornwall from 1916 to 1939. Photograph: St Austell Brewery
“Only in the 18th and 19th centuries did we see big commercial brewers dominated by men to meet demand for a new beer called porter,” said Protz. But then [the first world] war came, and the men who managed and worked in the breweries went off to fight, leaving women to step into the breach.
The woman trying to save India’s tortured temple elephants
Go read this story of how a dress code exposed inequality on an Arctic research missio
💩🔥💰 Trumpery 💩🔥💰
“Watching Trump I could see that he knew exactly how to appeal to the evangelicals’ desires and vanities – who they wanted him to be, not who he really was. Everything he was telling them about himself was absolutely untrue.”
To deceive the evangelicals, Cohen writes, Trump would “say whatever they wanted to hear.”
Pay It Forward and Make It Better
H/T Mary The Pen Cup: Postcards For Democracy
In light of the threat to our postal service, at a time that could jeopardize the democracy of the country, let’s join forces for this collective postcard art demonstration
Something Wonderful
Via @Dark Mode Dave
H/T Colleen: Orca Tahlequah is a mother again
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