Didn't know this:

Biden has the largest and steadiest lead any challenger has ever held against an incumbent.

As in: Ever.

The context is interesting, too.

• Hong Kong de-Coronafier.

• 'How to cloudify a restaurant.'

But see also:

There’s a lesson here, as the United States deals with staggering levels of incompetence at the federal level. Stories have been written by doctors in major hospitals in the U.S. about how they tried to source masks in the black market and disguised PPE shipments in food trucks to avoid their seizure by the federal government. As Taiwan and South Korea show, timely response by a competent government can make the difference between surrendering to a major outbreak and returning to a well-functioning, open society without lockdowns or deaths. But Hong Kong also teaches that people aren’t helpless, even when their government isn’t helpful.

47 seconds of pretty good.

• Factoid about time on and within Earth.

• Factoid about noise: A fascination distinction between cognition and effort.

Terrifying arithmetic previously percolating in the subconscious:

Getting herd immunity may not work.

It may just make the virus endemic.

And if you make the virus endemic you won't be able to "protect seniors" or any other vulnerable group.

That may be how things land up, but let's not kid ourselves about what that outcome means.

It might not matter!

Unemployment report came out. Another 3 million last week. So the weekly increase is dropping but not as much as it was a few weeks back (3.18M to 2.98M vs. 6.61M to 5.24M). So 36.5M lost their jobs over the last two months.

Sorry for scrambled links: Here's Srinivasan on how to cloudify a restaurant. It might well be what happens to your favorite diner in the best case.

Years ago I read that the restaurant business was about 400 years old (IIRC)... Before that there were no steady streams of (peaceful) travelers carrying a recognized currency. It's ironic to think how much damage this disease is doing to this almost quintessentially cosmopolitan institution.

Languages are hard:

https://twitter.com/masaka_k/status/1260013847106056193

Erk, brain fart. I should have written The Japanese talk like Yoda.

Erk, brain fart. I should have written The Japanese talk like Yoda. ~ Sixclaws at May 14, 2020 7:31 AM

Wakarimasen.

The Romance languages are similarly odd, to an English speaker, with the adjective coming after the noun and no possessive. Any literal translation needs a further translation.

I've heard that you've reached true fluency when you don't need to translate a foreign language into your native language and back again - when you can think and react in the language being used in the conversation.

I've studied three languages, albeit only casually, and have not reached fluency in any of them.

I think that's porcine snoring, but I could be wrong.

These pigs ate fermented corn to be used for making moonshine.

One of them is hammered-drunk & passed-out completely.

https://twitter.com/RexChapman/status/1260634366704848897

The problem I've seen with -Latin American- Spanish speakers trying to learn another language happens with the weak vs strong vowel placement, and also because the letter "W" is barely used, people tend to make it sound like a very weak "U" or a very loud "G."

I can write in English like a champ since I've been using the internet in English since 1997, but, speaking it? I.Talk.Like.William.Shatner.Because.There's.No.One.Else.To.Talk.To.In.That.Language.

And this is why support for cops is going down:

https://twitter.com/gabrielmalor/status/1260927936208781313

I.Talk.Like.William.Shatner.Because.There's.No.One.Else.To.Talk.To.In.That.Language. ~ Sixclaws at May 14, 2020 8:45 AM

I had a customer service job in college and tried to use my HS Spanish or college French to no avail. I know what I said was correct (re: nouns and verbs), but could not get the person on the other end to grasp what I was saying.

I knew a guy in grad school who was from Lebanon and he could switch between Arabic, English, Spanish, and French without pausing to translate. I envy that level of fluency. Someday perhaps.

CrowdStrike, the private cyber-security firm that first accused Russia of hacking Democratic Party emails and served as a critical source for U.S. intelligence officials in the years-long Trump-Russia probe, acknowledged to Congress more than two years ago that it had no concrete evidence that Russian hackers stole emails from the Democratic National Committee’s server.

https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2020/05/13/hidden_over_2_years_dem_cyber-firms_sworn_testimony_it_had_no_proof_of_russian_hack_of_dnc_123596.html

Fellow olds: This is the internet computer radio station you should be clicking for all your easy-listening needs. That little "triangle" figure, lower left.

It can get weird, because in 1967-1972, drugs. LOTS of drugs.

Even more language fun, A Russian, a German, an Italian, and a Chinese fellow all talking together in English and understanding each other perfectly. The Americans on the other hand couldn't understand a word of the conversation. Dimitri was quite funny when he leaned over and said "I am speaking English, he is speaking English, so is he. What language are you speaking?"

"I.Talk.Like.William.Shatner."

'Shatner Panties' was a poor name choice for his lingerie stores, that's for sure.

File under: Worst Jokes, Ever.

This week in pictures. "Murder hornets? that's cute."

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/05/midweek-in-pictures-week-nine-from-outer-space-edition.php

Ignore the T-shirt in English: Heritage, babe....

Conan linked it a couple years ago, and it's time to return the favor.

From Bratfree.

LovetoLurk wrote:

"Not technically a CF topic, but I had some thoughts (and Lord knows I can’t share them elsewhere) so please bear with me.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/10/us/ice-cream-shop-closes-employee-harassment-trnd/index.html

"Basically what happened is that an ice cream shop in MA opened up with new guidelines, nobody followed them, chaos ensued, and angry customers felt it appropriate to begin screaming at the teenage employees, to the point that one of them quit in tears. The article doesn’t specifically point out breeders, but I have a hunch they were probably the worst offenders. Any ice cream shop I’ve ever been to is always crawling with kids, and we all know breeders don’t think the rules apply to them.

"This story really struck a chord with me, as I think it would with anyone who served their time as a retail or foodservice employee as a teen. I worked as a waitress and a summer camp counselor all through college, and I noticed pretty early on that the rudest customers were the ones with children. As far as being a camp counselor, the abuse I endured from parents during those two summers was much worse than anything I endured in my later 10+ years as a teacher (by the end of my teaching career I had perfected the art of standing my ground and telling people to go fuck themselves in a professional manner). I’m talking about grown men and women literally screaming in my face. It seemed to be their first reaction to even the smallest of problems.

"Two things occur to me: 1) that being around their children makes them miserable, and 2) they are desperate to take their misery out on others, especially those they deem weak enough to not fight back. It does not matter to them if the target is little more than a child themselves, because as much as breeders love to talk about 'the children,' they really only care about their own DNA replicants. Breeders live for the Kodak moments, and what could be more Kodak than ice cream and summer camp? Why the need to be so nasty?

"This particular story has a happy ending though, the owner said girl was working to save for college, and someone started a Go Fund Me for her, which is up to almost $40k. Good for her."

Conan linked it a couple years ago, and it's time to return the favor. ~ Crid at May 14, 2020 12:12 PM

Nice. My wife's '98 Boxster just got dinged by a pick-up in a parking lot, so it's nice to see a vintage Porsche in one piece and looking good.

Remember parties? This would be a fun party game.

Remember this next time you get an unsolicited sales call.

What is it like to put your life on the line to protect a president, vice president, or former president? Ronald Kessler contrasts how Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, and Barack Obama treat their protective details.