Gromnir

St. Patrick’s Day partiers hit the town over officials’ pleas amid coronavirus outbreak *sigh* is hard to be angry with the guy who earns a living via a day gig when he decides to violate certain reasonable cdc guidelines in order to keep working, but this is not same. is not a story 'bout a guy desperate to support self and kids 'cause he gots no savings and is literal a couple days o' day-work away from being homeless. ... the real reason bernie sanders' campaign were doomed is 'cause the young people he were counting on to get him the nomination are broken. they won't vote, but the saturday 'fore st. patrick's day they will go out to packed bars in chicago and pittsburgh and southie where they use hand sanitizer to clean their conscience as well as their hands. terrible reality is most o' the boneheads in packed bars tonight won't get serious sick 'cause the under 40 crowd is less vulnerable to covid-19 serious symptoms and are unlikely to die or need hospitalization. sure, the younger folks still become infected, but they do not suffer as does the elderly or those with underlying med conditions. somebody else's grandparent, two degrees o' separation removed from these party clowns, is gonna die and the revelers will never even know they were the cause. meanwhile, spain locks it down and people in italy, where they is subject to wartime triage practices 'cause hospitals cannot handle the numbers o' sick, are continuing to die in increasing numbers. and folks on this side o' the pond shrug and wonder what is all the excitement 'bout while they blame media or a political party for yet another hoax which is invisible but lethal?

julia child and fred rogers HA! Good Fun!

Trump Caught Google Off Guard With a Bogus Coronavirus Site Announcement "A source at Google tells WIRED that company leadership was surprised that Trump announced anything about the initiative at the press conference. What he did say was also almost entirely wrong. There will be a coronavirus testing site, not from Google but from Alphabet sister company Verily. “We are developing a tool to help triage individuals for Covid-19 testing,” Google tweeted in a statement. “Verily is in the early stages of development, and planning to roll testing out in the Bay Area, with the hope of expanding more broadly over time.” "Even that, though, was not the original plan. The Verge reported Friday afternoon that Verily had intended the site for health care workers only. After Trump unexpectedly publicized the effort, Verily decided it will let anyone visit it, but can still only provide people with testing site information in the San Francisco area." would be nice if we could get through a Presidential announcement w/o trump indulging in the old razzle-dazzle. even today, trump and pence refused to walk back claims 'bout the website. HA! Good Fun!

have mentioned previous our greater admiration for bobby as 'posed to jfk, recognizing am talking 'bout political contributions. am not gonna undersell jfk wartime efforts and bravery. that said, an impoverished china, stuck with an agrarian and largely pre-industrial economy subject to frequent famines while nevertheless possessing nukes would not be a positive in our mind. as dangerous as you might believe china to be today, am only able to imagine a kinda north korea but magnified +50x as being inherent more dangerous than the current reality. in fact, all the other positives you note combined might not counter the dangers o' a china cut off from globalism. am not gonna suggest we were lucky to have nixon as President. after all, is tough to ignore watergate and vietnam. that said, a great number o' monumental positive changes occurred not just during nixon admin but 'cause o' nixon, not least which were his efforts with china... epa, clean air act, clean water acts and while it receives less press than his efforts to get cancer research funded for first time by fed, nixon is the guy who personal spearheaded the movement to end American policy o' forced assimilation o' native peoples. HA! Good Fun!

solution: have cnn, washington post and nyt do full length articles confirming existence aliens complete with interviews from air force generals and overnight 2/3 o' the tinfoil hat brigade who current believe a government coverup o' alien contact will be arguing with us 'bout media conspiracies and the impossibility o' alien contact. 'cause legitimacy ruins the conspiracy? is how it worked with coronavirus after all. have early washington post and bloomberg articles warning americans o' coronavirus issues being undersold by china and 'cause the schizotypy, undereducated losers distrust the media to a pathological degree, the loons ignore dangers. if coronavirus warnings had remained blog fodder, the k00ks mighta taken more serious? https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/editorial/opinion--trump-fans-believe-him-over-the-media-on-coronavirus-this-is-dangerous/2020/03/10/950cac91-39ad-458c-a9c2-a44da0bbcb82_video.html on a positive note, am needing give ted cruz a rare positive acknowledgement as he has recent recognized the administration's failures insofar as implementing rational and reasonable coronavirus testing. 'course his acknowledgement came while he were needing maintain self-quarantine, so would look kinda obtuse if he didn't, but is curious how he is an exception as 'posed to rule. HA! Good Fun!

is an admitted catch-22 for us. am willing to accept a game with bioware-style tangential romances just so long as such fare is optional. simultaneous, am recognizing is no possible way to do romance better than has been done as long as such fare is kept optional and tangential. to task writers with creating an entire romance arc which may be completed through a relative small number o' insular and discrete dialogue encounters that do not substantial alter the critical path plot in any meaningful way is not gonna produce anything more profound than we has seen in multiple games. try and think o' a compelling romance from a book, movie or whatever, which coulda' been complete exorcised from the work w/o altering the plot. nevertheless, optional and tangential is what we demand. am conceding the manifest unfairness o' our demands and accept the wasted resources. am knowing romances is popular and such will be added to many games we choose to purchase and play. therefore, as long as romances kept optional and tangential, the fundamental irredeemability o' romances is acceptable to us. best crpg romance: ravel unrequited love for tno. core. not optional. ravel's romance is developed from ravel's perspective and player choice does not alter it. ravel love for tno is decided not the bioware-style minigame romance. skip ahead to 5:25 when Gromnir speaks o' the possibilities o' game romance, we talk o' ravel from ps:t. disappointed resignation: precise 'cause o' the effort which goes into realizing bioware-style romances, the chances o' the ravel approach being used simultaneous in a title is diminished. what a loss. HA! Good Fun!

new low/high for fox news gaslighting is tucker carlson blaming liberal media for underreporting coronavirus. what? first stories we are able to recollect distinct (am confident there were other earlier articles, but am referencing stuff we recall) were bloomberg and washington post China Pneumonia Outbreak Spurs WHO Action as Mystery Lingers Specter of possible new virus emerging from central China raises alarms across Asia initial reported US cases were january 21, 2020, almost a week before first time tucker carlson ever mentioned coronavirus on tv or radio, and from that date almost every major media outlet save a few state media stand-ins were giving daily coronavirus updates, along with queries as to why the US were so slow to react to the clear growing threat. the thing is, for folks who only watch fox, they are gonna believe tucker... and trump. aside, and given the lack o' buck stops here from trump... Trump administration budget cuts could become a major problem as coronavirus spreads "The cuts started in 2018, as the White House focused on eliminating funding to Obama-era disease security programs. In March of that year, Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer, whose job it was to lead the U.S. response in the event of a pandemic, abruptly left the administration and his global health security team was disbanded. "That same year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was forced to slash its efforts to prevent global disease outbreak by 80% as its funding for the program began to run out. The agency, at the time, opted to focus on 10 priority countries and scale back in others, including China. "Also cut was the Complex Crises Fund, a $30 million emergency response pool that was at the secretary of state’s disposal to deploy disease experts and others in the event of a crisis. (The fund was created by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.)" Trump Has Sabotaged America’s Coronavirus Response "In May 2018, Trump ordered the NSC’s entire global health security unit shut down, calling for reassignment of Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer and dissolution of his team inside the agency. The month before, then-White House National Security Advisor John Bolton pressured Ziemer’s DHS counterpart, Tom Bossert, to resign along with his team. Neither the NSC nor DHS epidemic teams have been replaced. The global health section of the CDC was so drastically cut in 2018 that much of its staff was laid off and the number of countries it was working in was reduced from 49 to merely 10. Meanwhile, throughout 2018, the U.S. Agency for International Development and its director, Mark Green, came repeatedly under fire from both the White House and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. And though Congress has so far managed to block Trump administration plans to cut the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps by 40 percent, the disease-fighting cadres have steadily eroded as retiring officers go unreplaced." I ran the White House pandemic office. Trump closed it. " It’s unclear whether the decision to disband the directorate, which was made in May 2018, after John Bolton became national security adviser, was a tactical move to downgrade the issue or whether it was part of the White House’s interest in simplifying and shrinking the National Security Council staff. Either way, it left an unclear structure and strategy for coordinating pandemic preparedness and response. Experts outside government and on Capitol Hill called for the office’s reinstatement at the time. " Its absence now is all too evident. In his remarks Wednesday night, the president talked about travel bans and the resilience of the U.S. economy but made little specific mention of the public health crisis unfolding across America — exactly the kind of detail a dedicated NSC pandemics infrastructure would have pushed to address. A directorate within the White House would have been responsible for coordinating the efforts of multiple federal agencies to make sure the government was backstopping testing capacity, devising approaches to manufacture and avoid shortages of personal protective equipment, strengthening U.S. lab capacity to process covid-19 tests, and expanding the health-care workforce. " now the stuff 'bout former regulations from the obama admin being the cause o' delayed testing, which trump were insisting 'til today were not delayed, is pinocchio worthy in the extreme, but it is true the fed testing scheme (which had nothing whatsoever to do with swine flu standards as swine flu were FLU and delays, such as they were, were all related to vaccine development and not testing) were indeed ill-suited for the current needs given the scope o' covid-19. with initial cdc failed test release and the lack o' urgency related to covid-19, problems with the scheme were compounded. even if trump had acted sooner there woulda' been unfortunate delays insofar as testing is concerned. however, if the administration had started their efforts in january as 'posed to end of february, problems coulda' been overcome much sooner. buck stops. and keep in mind that folks such as bill gates were sounding alarm bells early in the trump administration Bill Gates Warns Of Epidemic That Could Kill Over 30 Million People The Trump administration is ill-prepared for a global pandemic ... am knowing nobody is gonna read all this, but whatever. parting shot is to note that while it seems like we are singling out trump on this, we ain't. as somebody who never passed up a chance to complain 'bout obama blunders, we complained when obama did the exact same f'ng thing early in his admin. bush had made pandemic and disease issues part o' the fundamental nsc structure post 9/11 and early in his administration, obama gutted the nsc presence, though not the cdc as has trump. took the ebola scare to motivate obama to undo initial stoopid. oh, and bush had removed the nsc pandemic personnel early in his admin and only brought such folks back post 9/11. wtf is wrong with these guys? HA! Good Fun!

a kinda curious national emergency declaration filled with self congratulatory puffery and a wealth o' misleading statements. anytime trump stopped reading direct from his pre-written content, he descended into doggerel. President didn't take any responsibility for current lack o' testing available and the slow start on making improvements to the previous testing scheme. if the administration had not marginalized the significance o' the current coronavirus for so long, testing changes woulda' been implemented earlier than last week. recall, the first evidence o' community outbreak in usa were late january. trump flat-out lied 'bout nsc reorganization. "i can't think of a bad relationship," were his claim in reference to state governors? oh, and during the Presidential announcement, the chief executive, who has had direct contact with those who has tested positive but has nevertheless not been tested himself, were shaking hands and violating any number o' social distancing recommendations. trump were bizarre obtuse 'bout his personal testing. trump says he ordered many more ventilators. from where? the problem has been described as one o' the hard reality the ventilators do not exist to supply the need. etc. HA! Good Fun!

quarantine is actual legal problematic. the fed has power to quarantine comes from the commerce clause of the Constitution. fed can quarantine those it identifies as problematic at points o' entry or those it believes may promote spread o' infection via interstate travel. police power, which is basis for most quarantine efforts, is specific reserved to the states. as such, states have more power to quarantine... in theory. the thing is, individual states often do not have a cdc analogue or the necessary apparatus to carry out a quarantine action. so cdc has people and knowledge to implement effective quarantine measures but they actual lack power to do so. states, converse, have legal power to do quarantines, but they rare have peeple and, skill and training to implement quarantine. last large scale quarantines in the US were spanish flu, and if you wanna shock self with predictable tales o' government incompetence and unreasonable obtuseness, you may read history for how effective and humane were such efforts. at times like these we often wonder why isn't the government doing something more? why isn't the government doing something, anything? is hard to believe, but often our government doesn't have the existing capacity to do what needs be done and the current administration gutted the cdc and nsc personnel who were in the best position to mobilize needed national efforts once warning signs became apparent to most. HA! Good Fun!

in our estimation, there were no good reason to force the kavanaugh confirmation once his questionable past came to light. as skarp notes, the position o' Justice is not elected by public and is in fact a lifetime appointment. Justice position is consciously undemocratic and yet such individuals sit in judgement over the entire nation, often for decades. as such, there should not be any serious questions regarding character or competence o' Justice candidates particular as there is so many candidates available. fact such concerns were ignored is shameful. that said, and ignoring skarp's feigned ignorance for the nonce, am gonna recognize how on the short list candidates for the seat on the bench vacated by Justice Kennedy, amy coney barrett were near top o' such a list. am only a teensy bit familiar with molly jong-fast, but given amy coney barrett's record on a score o' issues often mislabeled as liberal, am suspecting molly woulda' been no more happy with collins voting in favor o' an amy coney barrett confirmation than she were with kavanaugh. HA! Good Fun!

repeat: for those wondering why people are making such a big deal over a virus which is only 10-20x more lethal than the seasonal flu *groan* please read. the chinese extreme efforts to contain is not an overreaction even if such measures were unnecessarily delayed. US, in particular, should be concerned by italy situation. in the States we got a high homeless population, high prison/jail population, and 90% of US hospitals were, before coronavirus, operating beyond capacity. our healthcare system relies on private and state more than fed, so a national disease threat is more difficult to respond to than would be the case in almost any european nation. our emergency responders is not national but rather is state and local, each with their own training and guidelines-- get all such folks equipped and acting as needed is a challenge. etc. again, am not suggesting panic, but the people who continue to be surprised by the concern from people such as dr. fauci is disappointing. you should be aware before you is dismissive. HA! Good Fun!

am knowing wild rice is healthy. healthier. unfortunate, our opinion is it tastes a bit like cardboard shavings. we typical make wild rice edible by adding to or covering up with other stuff, which shouldn't be the point. however, we have considered healthier alternatives to some o' our carb-heavy choices and while we ain't a fan o' wild rice, we would consider ways to make edible. got any prep suggestions? am told quinoa is kinda a super-food alternative to rice. in another thread we were joking 'bout omega 3 and quinoa, somewhat surprising, actual provides omega 3 in relative small amounts per oz, but it adds up if it becomes a dietary staple. is a seed and not a grain so is higher in protein than most rice alternatives. ... am not good 'bout eating foods which is good for us unless such foods is also good. period. can't bring our self to sacrifice taste for sake of health. got a similar pov 'bout health concerns in general, which is why am relative unaffected by stuff such as pandemics and whatnot. what is the point o' living healthy if it means we gotta be miserable 24/7? we inform and take steps to prevent endangering others, but we don't work self up over stuff which we cannot and/or will not change... save again for recognition that our own selfishness should not be allowed to endanger others. HA! Good Fun!

am knowing it sounds alarmist, but what if coronavirus does become seasonal in same sense as does flu? chinese has identified multiple strains o' the current coronavirus, so what if, like flu, this coronavirus becomes sufficient widespread and is malleable enough to become perpetual? even w/o other contributing factors, such a possibility would affect world population. make hypothetical more nightmarish. so, every year have not only flu but a seasonal coronavirus season which is ten to twenty times more lethal? and what if this is a new norm o' globalism and every decade or so we get a new virus in addition to old? fifty years from now we got flu and coronavirus 19 and W, X, Y and Z viruses as well, each somewhere 'tween flu and sars lethal? and perhaps every century or so have contributing climate or environmental factors which vast amplify lethality as wartime conditions magnified lethality o' spanish flu, but instead o' just flu you got near a dozen similar diseases all being amplified. /cynic HA! Good Fun! ps the tng episode skazz mentions were indeed a thing involving genetic engineered superchildren. used transporter magic to de-age pulaski at end of the episode.

so... trump's speech assertion 'bout medical costs resulting from coronavirus treatment being waived were also walked back more than a little. The White House scrambles to clarify key details from Trump's speech announcing his coronavirus response "What Trump said: ""Earlier this week, I met with the leaders of health insurance industry who have agreed to waive all co-payments for coronavirus treatments, extend insurance coverage to these treatments and to prevent surprise medical billing." "Not long after his speech, however, a representative for insurance industry group America's Health Insurance Plans told Politico that major health insurers had only agreed to waive co-pays for coronavirus testing, not the far more costly coronavirus treatments." ... trump still believes this coronavirus is a "horrible infection " and a "global pandemic," yes? not gonna discover via an hour of the wolf tweet that the scope o' the disease is a media and democrat hoax and that those with symptoms can go to work tomorrow? edit:

beat us to the punch by seconds. HA! Good Fun!

pretty much every move by the US has been late other than work on a vaccine, and the vaccine started later than it should have 'cause the chinese were hiding the scope o' the threat. we noted previous how the nsc, after the ebola outbreak, had a special global health security unit to deal with pandemics and the unit were exorcised by the current administration. in north america we are all gonna pay for that mistake. with tonight's speech, the President did final come to grips with the significance o' the pandemic. thankful absence o' his hannity interview nonsense where he said folks with the virus could go to work. on the negative side, trump nevertheless undersold the scope o' the measures which is likely to be enacted in the near future, which is gonna result in confusion and fear if (when?) school gymnasiums and city convention centers is being transformed into temporary medical facilities. is already increasing number o' folks wondering at the absence o' testing and the President didn't speak to the shortfall o' available tests in the near future. trump read from the teleprompter and didn't say anything overt stoopid. *shrug* speech is not gonna be compared to reagan after challenger or bush after 9/11. oh, and the travel ban has a whole lotta leeway 'ccording to the dhs release. edit: so... doesn't apply to trade goods...

am knowing it were done for comedy, and she weren't much to look at, but "moogie" is our best ds9 woman... by far. HA! Good Fun!

double-post. apologies. for those looking for honest assessment o' coronavirus, particular Americans, we recommend looking for any new news or opinion direct attributable to anthony fauci. https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/487049-has-dr-anthony-fauci-made-trump-irrelevant-to-the-coronavirus-crisis https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/nih-s-fauci-wishes-trump-hadn-t-disbanded-global-health-n1155866 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/11/anthony-fauci-undercuts-trump-flu-other-coronavirus-assertions/ Coronavirus: 1,000 Cases Now In U.S. And 'It's Going To Get Worse,' Fauci Says am not personal showing symptoms, but watching committee members bicker over politics made us feel sick. can fast forward to whenever fauci speaks, 'cause even a few o' the other experts were more than a little evasive. asked why US cannot do testing of type and scale o' south korea, dr. redfield o' the cdc does classic political pivot. added a business insider link: 8 key exchanges from the testimony of the nation's top infectious disease expert who warned the US outbreak is going to 'get worse' HA! Good Fun!

neither the masks nor the darmok and jalok(sp?) at tenagra(sp?) episodes from tng gets much repeat viewing from Gromnir. even so, we do remember such. have used "sokath, his eyes uncovered," similar to valentine michael smith's grok 'mongst particular nerdworthy crowd. am gonna admit masks is not a favorite, but ain't in our angel one or code of honor grouping o' tng least faves. HA! Good Fun! ps recent deceased Justice Stevens were fond o' "grok."

finally got around to reading the following books: nat turner and the rising in southampton county the land shall be deluged in blood: a new history of the nat turner revolt both is more scholarly than entertainment oriented, but they ain't punishing reads by any means. still processing. is so much myth surrounding the nat turner rebellion. even so, how the south reacted to the rebellion is more easy to track with law passage and tax records n' such. both books is solid additions to the nat turner narrative, but am needing more time to reflect 'fore we are able to frame a recommendation. HA! Good Fun!

ah. sokath, his eyes uncovered. ps am kidding. HA! Good Fun!

failed to reach the dinosaur goal? hard pass. in all seriousness, we will likely purchase... eventual, six months post release when is predictable more stable. HA! Good Fun!

actually, recent studies show much o' what older studies reveal: lack o' education and a collection o' fringe personality traits is most common predictors o' a belief in conspiracy theory. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/09/180925075108.htm https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psych-unseen/201904/what-makes-people-believe-in-conspiracy-theories conspiracy theories is also more common for for losers. “Conspiracy theories are for losers,” says Joseph Uscinski, associate professor of political science at the University of Miami and co-author of the 2014 book American Conspiracy Theories. Uscinski stresses that he uses the term literally, not pejoratively. “People who have lost an election, money or influence look for something to explain that loss.” --from a time mag article from 2017. so, less educated schizoids (not necessarily clinical diagnosed schizophrenic, but those with schizophrenic traits) who is seeing selves as getting the fuzzy end o' the lollipop is, 'ccording to recent studies, the folks most likely to indulge in conspiracy theory nonsense, theories which necessarily depend on the absence o' evidence and/or comprehension to proliferate. listen to joe rogan talk with neil degrasse tyson regarding moon landing hoax. is surreal the ignorance o' rogan as he continues to explain why he believed in hoax... though we will note moon hoax is almost unique 'cause there is just so much evidence which clear refutes the hoax. ... is unlikely folks actual read articles, so will share our favorite line from the 2018 science daily offering: "Hart's study also showed that conspiracists had distinct cognitive tendencies: they were more likely than nonbelievers to judge nonsensical statements as profound (a tendency known as "BS receptivity")." so, "bs receptivity" is the clinical term? might need to use that one in the future. HA! Good Fun!

is no less true for mothers. am of the opinion the single greatest threat to a young girl's self-esteem and emotional well-being is a mom who supposed just wants what's best for her daughter, and growing up don't save those girls from the wrath o' mom. your wife couldn't choose MiL, but she chose you. am hopeful recognition o' such helps salvage a birthday envenomed by a mom. HA! Good Luck!

the real star o' the movie were spenser's buick riviera. am embarrassed to admit am not certain if it were an 83, 84 or 85. is easy to forget the luxury coupe rivieras in the early/mid 80s were selling slight more expensive than the bmw 3-series, and were out performing the german cars as well. always wanted a 79 riviera, but spenser's ride is drool-worthy as well. HA! Good Fun!