• Has anyone heard from Cousin Dave yet? Speak up if you're passing through, dude....

• So I'm going through old comments, looking for the link to an article about McDonald's in Canada from a few years ago. Some neat things are turning up. From Conan:

Biden's son fails drug test, is discharged from Navy
William H. McMichael and Jonathan Starkey
USA TODAY, 2014/10/17

And I want some credit for this:

Folks here in the Heaven of contemporary America think of nature as something that's been supplanted by clever technology.

They are fucking so going to be disappointed.

Crid at June 24, 2006 2:05 AM

Also — "Postlord.

A woman named Althea Bernstein had a terrible thing happen in Madison the other night. But it might be a good idea to pay particular attention for news of her.

The Russian Origins of Black Neo-Marxism

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/06/the_russian_origins_of_black_neomarxism.html

Greta Thunberg on the inadequacy of the current political and economic systems: "The climate and ecological crisis cannot be solved within today’s political and economic systems. That isn’t an opinion. That’s a fact."

Um, Greta, saying "That's a fact" after expressing an opinion does not make it a fact. Also, it's always enlightening to be lectured by a self-righteous teenager who thinks she's discovered a universal truth to which you, as an adult, have been willfully blind.

On the other hand, calling your rationale a "crisis" for which the current system is inadequate to respond does enable you to justify advocating the violent overthrow of that system - without really understanding what an overthrow entails and the bloodbath that usually results from a such an overthrow.

"It is usually futile to try to talk facts and analysis to people who are enjoying a sense of moral superiority in their ignorance." ~ Thomas Powell

But it might be a good idea to pay particular attention for news of her. ~ Crid at June 27, 2020 2:32 AM

Well, if she did it herself, and I'm not saying she did, at least she was smart enough to not hire any accomplices and to try to get it on CCTV.

This is what Jussie Smollet hath wrought, distrust. Bubba Wallace expanded that distrust with the "noose" in his garage.

R.I.P. Milton Glaser,, creator of the "I Love NY" logo. And much more.

Example - he designed the psychedelic Bob Dylan poster.

He died on his 91st birthday.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/06/milton-glaser-new-york-and-iny-designer-dies-at-91.html

• I'd have been wrong-

> he designed the psychedelic
> Bob Dylan poster.

- And would have wagered that the top right piece was from Max.

• Two of the most aggravating things from the 1980's, merged.

Two of the most aggravating things from the 1980's, merged. ~ Crid at June 27, 2020 9:38 AM

Impressive. As a long-time user of Excel, I don't share your disdain for it, although I admit to being frustrated with it frequently - mostly with the updates intended to make it more "user-friendly."

> at least she was smart enough
> to not hire any accomplices and
> to try to get it on CCTV.

This interest came via Sailer, of course… It has hasn't been a week since the last one, Wallace, and Sailer placed his chips as early as possible for it. So we'll wait and see…

But government isn't up to this challenge.

And for the record, I think Bubba was blameless throughout. It was other people who saw the 'noose,' called in the authorities, inflamed the passions, and demanded the theatrical parade of huggz before the race… Wallace wasn't driving any of that.

That's the weird thing 2020: It's white people who are doing most of the damage.

Great numbers out of the Empire State!

BREAKING NEWS ALERT:

Taylor Swift has denounced the 2020 Census.

On voice acting:

https://twitter.com/reviewer2000/status/1276820755972407303

And Excel is brilliant, I just don't have the right kind of mind for it… No math skills and no memory. So every 8-10 months when I need it badly, I'm taking it from the top, and will carry no skills forward to next time. I.E., I'm the guy they're fucking it up for.

Clippy wasn't my fault, though. (I heard he was Melinda's.)

Meh, tech journalism is a rigged game of musical chairs, by Monday he's gonna end up in a cushy job at any other grifter clickbait news site.

https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1276867883461758976

So every 8-10 months when I need it badly, I'm taking it from the top, and will carry no skills forward to next time. I.E., I'm the guy they're fucking it up for. ~ Crid at June 27, 2020 10:47 AM

I don't have a lot of memory for Excel either, but I know what it can do, so I Google things when I can't remember the exact formula or the function that handles what I need it to do.

I hate doing manually what I know Excel can do automatically. And I hate entering a model variable multiple times. That's how models get messed up, the variable change is missed in one or two formulae. I like to put variables in cells on a single page and let them flow through to the rest of the model.

Over time, I've created an Excel file of tips and tricks to help me with Excel functions, formatting, and formulae. I'll share if you want it.

As for Clippy? Clippy was universally despised. He was another attempt to make the formerly DOS-based MS Office "user-friendly" in the new GUI environment. However, even the users for whom he was intended found him intrusive and less than useful.

Gog, we have GOT to get you your links back.

Gog,

You can contact Amy's site security provider, Akismet, and see if they can resolve the situation for you. That's what I did when I was having trouble with links.

support@akismet.com

"As a long-time user of Excel,..."

I have Excel v0.0B for Mac. On a floppy. In assembly, it's about 225K. It does a wonderful job of over 200 math functions.

Amazing what your company can do until its personnel are enstupidated by government regulations.

• Raddy, the word "enstupidate" isn't real… You mean pesticulate.

• How could this weekend get any better?

> I'll share if you want it.

Please! (Though I usually use LibreOffice/LibreCalc Portable at home.) Email as below or any of the usual accounts.

• Remember this? (Compelling new coinage: "Gronk.")

Well, now also, that.

Oops, email. (Only two links for comment no matter what.)

Sorry, it's not publishing: CridComment at the google electronic mail service.

The ol' one-two.

Young people who flout the instructions on this are putting their own health at risk meaningfully, and that of others around them recklessly. There's no reason to be patient with them.

When shown videos of Covid Karens being schoolmarmish about six feet of distance, I'm appalled. But when the other kind think they don't have to wear masks, I'm enraged.

Sorry, it's not publishing: CridComment at the google electronic mail service. ~ Crid at June 27, 2020 12:54 PM

On its way.

There are no excuses: Note that "possess" and "Disabilities" are misspelled.

No doctor is ever going to say you don't need a mask in public.

Yesterday I donated platelets at UCLA and was given two thick, reusable cotton masks by the school. They have adorable little UCLA crests just under the temple. Fast food restaurants and retailers of all sorts will soon be passing these out as courtesy gifts.

It doesn't matter what Ben and Momof4 have to say about it: You really need to wear a mask.

...and was given two thick, reusable cotton masks by the school. ~ Crid at June 27, 2020 1:45 PM

I wonder it that's gonna be the new giveaway swag, branded masks.

My wife and I bought two re-usable ones at the store and they're nothing more than two layers of neoprene, the same material used for beer cozies. They can't be that expensive to use as a giveaway; and printing them has to be fairly cheap.

Note that "possess" and "Disabilities" are misspelled.

I think he was trying to say it "poses" a risk to him.

Perhaps he did mean "posses" and was trying to say that multiple organized groups of deputized citizens would track him down if he wore a mask.

• (Thanks for the Excel treats, Conan!)

> I think he was trying to say it
> "poses" a risk to him.

I mispeled it two, I was in a hury.

• Wuhan Coronavirus! You can be:

☑ 'Asymptomatic,'

☑ Still pass the illness to others, with responsibility for their suffering and/or death, and

☑ Nonetheless be damaged or maimed yourself.

Crud, a fart is more accurate, as far as comparisons with other bodily expulsions go. While we all wish peoples lower body garments kept them in, my husband and son delight in demonstrating to me that farts pass through just fine.

Regardless of what I think, though, when seeing patients I mask up cause it's my jobby-job to care for them and follow company rules.

Interesting comparison: who is better? The person sitting at home full of right-think, typing furiously away on blogs or the person out actually caring for these patients, with wrong-think in their hearts?

How could this weekend get any better?

Well, that shit certainly isn't on my "2020 embrace the suck" bingo card. Vladimir, what did you do?

The last thing I read said that masks were very good against bacteria but nearly useless against viruses.

That said, it seems only logical that the virus hitchhiking on your bodily fluids will be hindered by a mask preventing those bodily fluids from pushing out the event horizon.

We should be calm. It will go away. It may kill 10% of the retirement set and a comparative handful of younger, but go away it will.

Momof4 at March 17, 2020 8:15 PM

Two and half million Americans have been made sick by this illness, at God knows what cost of gratuitous suffering, debilitation and lost productivity.

125,500 Americans have died so far [Johns Hopkins]. That's more than the total military deaths from all causes in World War One, and more than twice the number killed in combat.

But here's the thing: As of 2016, there are 49.2 million Americans over age 65 ("retirement") whose deaths would not excite your interest. [ACL dot Gov: "U.S. Census Bureau, the National Center for Health Statistics, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics."]

So— 49,200,000 / 125,000 =

You'd blithely accept 393 times as much Wuhan Covid death as we've had heretofore, and that's only amongst the seniors. Millions of younger people would be lost in such a cataclysm, with continuing suffering for survivors, but their "relative handful" wouldn't distract you.


> who is better?… or the person
> out actually caring for these
> patients, with wrong-think
> in their hearts?

Are the patients seniors? I'm nowhere near the oldest in my family. They enjoy their lives.

> the virus hitchhiking on your
> bodily fluids will be hindered
> by a mask

Yes, that's why I noted that the 'swag' masks from the platelet donation center were cotton. These are serious (and seriously clean) medical professionals... Absolute protocol superfreaks. UCLA Health is not a fuck-around enterprise. But for a bug like this, cloth is so very much better than nothing that the statistical difference between fabrics/filters is nearly, on the street, statistically incidental. (It's why Ben's oblivious chatter in mid-march was so annoying.)

I have a link with detailed comparisons of them all that I can dig out if you want. We're not all going to dress up like neurosurgeons, and that includes the people with 3D printers who imagine they can devise something better.

Scroll down a ways to find Samuel L. Jackson's "Dear Autocorrect, it's isn't duck" meme.

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/06/the-week-in-pictures-fake-noose-edition.php

Oh, I got the math wrong! You said only ten percent of the retirement set.

Which would 39 times today's number of deaths.

I'm mortified by my clumsy oversight. I'd spent a few minutes poking around on spreadsheets from the CDC, and as noted in this very thread, I'm easily confused by numbers.

Mortified… But recovering! No shortness of breath or anything! No reason to worry!

"It doesn't matter what Ben and Momof4 have to say about it: You really need to wear a mask." ~Crid

You shouldn't lie Crid. I never said you don't need to wear a mask. I only told you that a coffee filter isn't going to protect you from virus sized particles.

What is really funny is I then went on to tell you that masks work best when sick people wear them. You told me I was crazy and incoherent. Too bad for you I was right. And now you post link after link about how I was right. A truly bizarre action.

Epidemiology with Ben!

"A coffee filter strapped to your face with rubber bands has got to be better than nothing ..." ~Crid

Not really. None of those make a difference for a healthy person. The best use is for infected people to use masks. In that case even paper masks help a lot.

Ben at March 15, 2020 7:20 AM

Good! You've finally done your homework Crid.

Now, point out the parts that were wrong or in any way contradict the reams and reams of posts you've made about masks.

Are you nine?

Have you met Patrick?

Are you nine? Your whole 'Have you ever kissed a girl?' stick points to that being true. More to the point, are you illiterate? Did you never read any of the things you posted? Your entire 'Damn Ben' series says the exact same thing you quoted from me.

So yes you do need to point out what you think is incorrect.

So far this has been a Fry and Laurie type experience.
C: There is the proof. Read 'em and weep!
B: Yes, very good. I agree with everything you've presented.
C: Exactly, you've been corrected. Read'em and weep!
B: But that only matches with what I've said all along.
C: Still, read'em and weep.
B: Do you understand what the phrase 'read'em and weep' means?

Well, you've had plenty of time to respond Crid. No wonder you find me so difficult. When you have to lie to win an argument you need people to not expose your lies. Well, too bad. If you lie about me I will push back.

You were quoted precisely. I imagine you in grade school, complaining after the test (D+) that you weren't THEN being given the answers, despite asking for them anew.

What you quoted is precisely what I wrote. It is also correct. Do you still not understand how masks work? Even after so many people have covered this over and over again? You wearing a mask will not protect you from covid. Period. End of story. It does jack shit to stop virus particles. A N95 mask is far more effective, but even 10x jack shit is still jack shit. A mask on your face does nothing to protect you.

If you are still doubting that then please read your 'Damn Ben' serious of links. It is covered quite definitively in there.

Life is hard enough as is. But you make it a whole lot harder by choosing to be stupid.