Posts Made By: James Lacey

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

That's because you don't live in the nation that has a Constitution with a Bill of Rights that enumerates some rights that we enjoy and that are inalienable.ple,am

Canada does have a bill of rights. It is not without its controversies, just like the US bill of rights. The blind reverence for the US bill of rights, and especially the 2nd amendment, among certain political groups, is a modern phenomenon. When first debated, the US bill of rights was extremely controversial. For example, the Federalists were vehemently against its inclusion. The ratification of the bill of rights did eventually happen, but that outcome was far from certain at the time. Honestly, even today, while we don't debate the need for the inclusion of the bill of rights, we do still debate its meaning, and these debates even make it to the Supreme Court. So, claiming they are inalienable rights even seems like an exaggeration.

Originally Posted by James Brown

Texas is a bit different.   The daily infection and death rate in Texas has always been remarkably low, much lower per capita than CO or GA.  But it does not look like TX is much past their very low peak.  It will be interesting to see if re-opening has a noticeable effect.  I'll update these charts in a week or so, or when they show something interesting.

Jim 

Hi Jim,

Local polling suggests Texans will continue to self-quarantine for some time to come, despite the reopening. I doubt there will be a rush to reopen by the general public anywhere. Even the states that have not had official stay-at-home orders are seeing record unemployment. All indications are that despite the reopen protestors, most people are in no hurry to die. At this point, it's more about psychology than official orders, isn't it? We are seeing TV ads now too that are encouraging at-risk people to stay at home regardless of reopening efforts. Nevertheless, I am incredibly interested in seeing how the data progresses. Thanks for posting this!

Originally Posted by Mel Maki

Liberals saving the world. If they can pass enough laws. Surely, one of them will save a life. How can you be against trying?

Just FYI, this is a Republican-sponsored bill. It's not unheard of either. Many states already have similar legislation.

Originally Posted by Steven Moore

So Dave you are saying it is ok for me to have to pay $50+$3+ $19.99 for a box on 30/06 ammo just to be able to hunt deer in Pa. That I have been doing for 52 years.  It is called the Second Amendment.A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.  I would say adding all this extra expense is infringement!! But what do you care

Hi Steven,

The sponsor of the bill has stated that he was influenced to write the bill at the behest of law enforcement. There has been a tremendous surge in ammunition stockpiling since the COVID-19 crisis. Law enforcement saw it as a way to stem future gun violence. There is no liberal plot here.

Originally Posted by James Brown

Good luck on the sales.  If I had seen that bino mount you sold in 2015 I might have bought it.  I can't resist stuff like that!  

Funny, I've been cleaning my astro-house too.  8 ads and an auction over the last couple of weeks.  For me I guess it is because work is slow, and I've got time on my hands.  Speaking of too much time on my hands.  A friend sent this youtube of a S. Korean baseball fight.  I don't know what to think of it, but it made me laugh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7D8aDp3RUs

Jim

If you need a laugh, watch this. It's a tad vulgar, so make sure young ears are not near by.

"I Didn't Know Sh*t"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igh9iO5BxBo

Originally Posted by James Brown

So, long story short - here are the daily new infections from Colorado, Georgia, and Texas - all graphed based upon the date the infection was reported, all from the John's Hopkins web page.  The Y axes are different, but, over time, this should show us graphically whether there is a second wave developing in these states.  

Jim

  

-
Hi Jim,

NextStrain has been compiling all of the data from the genome sequencing of the Coronavirus around the globe. It's quite interesting since you can visually see how the virus is spreading. Go to the North America dataset, move the map, so the US is in the center, then hit play and pause. The first infections show up in the US in early January from China; at the same time, Western Europe is getting infected from China, then in late January, the US starts getting infections from Western Europe too. So, we were getting it on two coasts. In early February, the US starts spreading it back to Western Europe, and later in February, the US is also spreading it back to the East. By early March, it's a merry-go-round where everyone is spreading it back-and-forth. So much for travel bans having worked. The problem is they weren't outright bans. Lots of people traveled to and from China and Europe after those bans went into place. Many were citizens or had exemptions, or they just arrived here from a different stop-over. In any case, travel bans seem to have had little effect in stopping the spread. I'm assuming that if there had been effective screening in place, that could have made a difference, but we will never know for sure.
If I'm reading the data correctly, the vast majority of our infection came from Europe, and the US spread it as much as we received it.

Purple streaks show where the virus was transmitted from China, green and yellow-green streaks show transmission from Europe, and red streaks show transmission from the United States.

Originally Posted by Darian Rachal

Hopefully, you're not one of those people taking it off to puff on a cigarette or wearing it driving around? I've even seen people riding a bicycle or walking for exercise wearing one. What's up with that? I guess it's one of those trendy things these days.

Darian,

Face-mask shaming by the right seems to be a bit hypocritical now that the White House has ordered its staff to wear masks, don't you think? I mean seriously, the White House and Trump spend weeks sending contradictory messages about safety guidelines during the outbreak. Then, as soon as the West Wing has a severe epidemic among their staff, they freak out, start testing everyone every day and issue a mandatory mask order. Finally, they seem to understand what is needed to keep everyone safe in the West Wing is common-sense safety precautions and test, trace, and isolate protocols. We can only hope that sometime soon, they will conclude that it is what is needed for the rest of us as well and come up with a national strategy for how to deal with this crisis effectively rather than the chaotic piece-meal disaster that is unfolding before us in slow-motion.

Originally Posted by Darian Rachal

James, where is this disaster that you are talking about?

Darian,


There have been over 86,000 deaths and close to 1.5Mn infections in four months, and that is with extreme non-pharmaceutical interventions nationwide. No one can reasonably deny that without the stay-at-home orders, school closings, and other social-mitigation efforts that those numbers would be significantly higher. The death-rater from COVID-19 is higher than the only two other biggest killers of Americans cancer and heart disease.

Even if you do choose to ignore or dispute the deaths, it's impossible to ignore the economic damage caused by this world-wide pandemic. It's not a hoax. It's not a liberal-media invention designed to harm Trump. It is doing real harm, and it's frankly a little unbelievable that you seem to think there is no disaster unfolding in front of you.

Originally Posted by Brian McFarland

I know this is anecdotal, but we contract with a machine shop on the east coast for some large aluminum assemblies.  There are 30 people in that shop. Covid burned through that shop a little over a month ago, and three of those people died from it. It's a relatively enclosed space with people in relatively close quarters. This virus is not something to dismiss. Enjoy that wedding!

All it takes is one asymptomatic person to turn any public gathering into a super-spreader event. 

Coronavirus Ravaged a Choir. But Isolation Helped Contain It.

One sick singer attended choir practice, infecting 52 others, two of whom died. A study released by the C.D.C. shows that self-isolation and tracing efforts helped contain the outbreak.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/12/health/coronavirus-choir.html

This was on March 10th.

Originally Posted by Brian McFarland

There's a bit of Darwin at work going on with all this. My advice is just believe the science (even if you can't do the math!) and ignore the politicians and conspiracy theorists. You'll be much better off.

Mike Bowen is the Executive Vice President of Prestige Ameritech, which is a major N95 mask maker in Texas.

During his testimony today during Dr. Bright's testimony he had this to say in reference to Dr. Bright's treatment by the Trump administration:

https://twitter.com/brian_cahn/status/1261009292561395713?s=20

I'm a Republican. I've been a lifelong Republican, and I'm embarrassed by how that's been handled.

Like Rick Bright said, it's the scientists we need to be listening to, and we are not. That has got to change or more lives are going to be lost.