Going through old stuff I missed in the last month and need to do cleanup:

• Lenona linked the true story of shipwrecked kids (vs. Lord of the Flies) story long before I did.

• Some people here got annoyed when I said I wouldn't watch HBO's Chernobyl because reviewers convincingly described the plot as a corruption of the political history of the event.

This struck some people wrong-headed, but I can't think of a single Hollywood movie that I'd recommend as a faithful depiction of such an historical event. We could each probably name fifty or a hundred films (including ones, I will grant, that we greatly enjoyed watching) which pointlessly and recklessly corrupted important components of the subject.

In any case, there's plenty of fantastic non-fiction literature and real-time reportage of Chernobyl that's freely available. I remember when Lennon died, and one of the networks made a shitty, low-budget movie-of-the-week depicting his last years (and probably his murder). Why? It was all very fresh. Why would you want to gum up your appreciation of such things with tawdry dramatic manipulations?

Conan asked if I remember which review it was; I don't. It was the upper end of middlebrow, something in the Steve Sailer-Theodore Dalrymple range, but it's not turning up on Google. [I've always had a shitty memory.]

• Lenona spanked me pretty hard for something else, but I've forgotten what. Already. [See?]

In current events—

• Here's a short 'this-will-amaze-you' video about deep holes in the ground. It might not, but at least the music isn't the most obnoxious of its kind.

• Got Android over here, and would bet that most of Amy's users do as well, both by budget and temperament. But if you're an Iphonist, you'll want to watch this woman's collection of user tricks.

Masks: unsafe at any speed?

Nevertheless, based on their findings so far, the investigators conclude that surgical masks and reusable cloth masks are both “ineffective in preventing the dissemination of SARS-CoV-2.”

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/new-study-questions-the-effectiveness-of-masks-against-sars-cov-2#More-virus-on-outer-mask-surfaces

But there is some value to wearing a mask.

https://dilbert.com/strip/2020-05-21

An Instagram model says a botched Brazilian butt lift left her unable to sit — for six months.

...

The online star said she now plans a breast augmentation.

https://nypost.com/2020/05/18/instagram-model-shilpa-sethi-details-botched-butt-lift/

According to the lawsuit, the men first alerted flight attendants that the woman was disruptive and belligerent and appeared to be intoxicated. They notified the flight attendants again when the woman made sexual advances toward the NFL player, massaging his knees and thighs. More than an hour into the flight, the woman's advances intensified, the men allege, and she allegedly grabbed and groped the player. Flight attendants again were notified.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29200201/in-lawsuit-nfl-player-says-was-sexually-harassed-assaulted-united-airlines-flight

> "According to the lawsuit, the
> men first alerted flight attendants
> that the woman was disruptive and
> belligerent and appeared to be
> intoxicated."

This was Orion/Artemis' first topic on the blog…

And the first time he/she demonstrated deepest ignorance of the traditions of Western comity, such that righteous defensive force comes only through state authority, as in the Chinese model of servility.

> Masks: unsafe at any speed?

Darth, trite allusions to Ralph Nader are not the thoughtful response here. "Medical News Today" ain't JAMA or NEJM, and you know it. Tawdry, exploitative headlines from seventh-tier websites aren't going to move anyone's understanding forward on this. Consider the critiques at the Annals page under discussion in your link:

As the authors acknowledge, their study does NOT evaluate the ability of the masks to shorten the trajectory of droplets emitted during coughing. The function of the mask is to reduce how far aerosol droplets travel during breathing, speaking, singing, sneezing, or coughing. This is the same reason one should cover one’s mouth or nose with your forearm, inside of your elbow, or tissue when sneezing. CDC guidelines advise the wearing of face coverings to "slow the spread of the virus and help people who may have the virus and do not know it from transmitting it to others.”

This thing is devastating, whether or not you're impressed with the death it's already brought to a stadium's worth of Americans. At some point, smirking "Oh yeah?" ought not be one's highest aspiration in discourse.

It will be a spectacularly bad year for academe, but this argument deserves your attention.

Lifehacker dot com says I screwed up the response to Darth—

But most of the time, the person who brings up misinformation is more swayed by tone or implications than the actual facts. Before you get too deep into the details, ask them a few open-ended questions and listen—really listen—to their answers:

How did you come to believe this?

What concerns do you have about this whole situation?

Vectorville, California. Population: Me!

There were people crawling all over this house last month for construction. All of us wore masks with essentially religious devotion, but I was only moderately fussy about wiping things down every afternoon when they left.

This month I've had both PCR & IgG antibody tests, both negative, and I feel like a million dollars! I'm still an electrifying and vital physical specimen… With a thick, flouncing, lustrous head of hair, a playful, flirtatious gaze, and an indisputably sexual willfulness to my gait… The only infectious thing is my warm laugh laughter!

Wear a f_&$^* mask.

And the news outlets are quiet about this.

https://twitter.com/nulluser10/status/1263321988531183616

The only reason they're complaining is because she's not a hambeast:

https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1263097461817688066

Do the Wuflu diet:

https://twitter.com/davidmackau/status/1262879650352676864

I wonder if digging deeper would reveal an extortion racket from the Chinese government:

https://twitter.com/cabot_phillips/status/1262441045197049856

A hot female teacher is arrested for teaching a teenager how to be a man*:

https://twitter.com/shbtay_/status/1262477089179152384

*CYA moment: That was sarcasm.

In the future, everyone will be an epidemiologist for 15 minutes...

Why not? All my Facebook friends who were Constitutional scholars a few months ago are epidemiological experts today.