A bigger question

 This editorial notes that China must be made to pay for their leak of the coronavirus from WIV in Wuhan, and while I agree--let's start by not sponsoring research that could be used for bioweapons with the worst practicioner of genocide in history!--it strikes me that even more important question is why basic questions like this gained no traction at the CDC and NIH, let alone the media.  

After all, it's an obvious point that if an epidemic starts near a virology research center, that's a suspect, in the same way that it's an obvious point that 126nm particles tend to form aerosols, and in the same way that it's an obvious point that you don't do research that could be used for bioweapons with a government sponsored lab in a nation that's killed 65 million of their own people and is waving the sword against its neighbors.

I can see a few people missing this, but how is it that pretty much everybody outside a conservative "bubble" missed these issues?  That's something we ought to investigate.

Surprise, surprise

 The same kind of electronics reliability issues I've dealt with for my entire career are plaguing electric vehicle recharging stations.  What a shocker.

Where am I coming from here?  Simple.  The same economics that shift production of electronics to Asia--save a nickel per widget with dollar an hour labor--are in place for electronics reliability.  So things that ought to be done to protect the business simply aren't done.  You see it in data storage (my industry), lightbulbs (I noticed bathroom CF bulbs didn't last worth beans about ten years back), appliances, and more.

The question arises "OK, why doesn't this cause problems in gas stations, too?", and the answer is "it does".  But the trick is that when one gas pump goes out, that doesn't generally take out the whole gas station.  Plus, it takes five minutes to fill a car with gasoline, and hours to recharge an electric.  Hence troubles with electric chargers impact drivers far worse than do troubles with gasoline pumps.

Maybe it's time to take a good look at the risks of going all-electric.

Observations from the Super Bowl

KC's head coach appears to be ready to endorse Quaker Oatmeal.

One of their star receivers seems to have a bit of a "Ronald McDonald" vibe going with those yellow shoes and gloves.

Does Eagles player Zach Pascal make wagers?

When Philadelphia's QB got hit, Jalen Hurts.

Did the dancers at the halftime show remind anyone else of the Teletubbies?

Watching a football game after reading Bennett Omalu's biography (Omalu discovered CTE) is a very interesting instance of seeing, and cringing at, every blow to the head.   Praising God that He gave me lineman's speed (if that), a receiver's body(but skinnier), and hands of stone, so I'd be ready to run cross country.

An interesting idea

In Massachusetts, a bill has been submitted that would allow prison inmates to get up to a 12 month reduction in their sentence if they donate an organ.   Somehow it seems like a good idea to me, though you'd have your hands full making sure that the prisoner was in fact in a condition to survive the surgery without passing on jailhouse infections (jailhouse rape is endemic, sad to say, with accompanying STDs and more) to the recipient.

Especially compelling is the reality that if a prisoner donates a kidney, he simultaneously becomes a more vulnerable person--we have two kidneys in case one becomes damaged, but if you've only got one, brawling and crime becomes a less attractive option because....one is in a condition where one could quickly become the person on dialysis.

I don't expect that it would make a night and day difference in organ donations, since you've got to do a lot of screening and matching, but it's an interesting idea nonetheless.

What is really afoot

A pro-Putina TV host has suggested that the United States ought to be destroyed, and its territory replaced with a "strait" named after....Joseph Stalin. 

Now, call me weird if you like, that's fine, but while I get hyperbolic and over the top statements from citizens of countries that are at war, it's pretty telling that people are actually thinking of naming a geographical feature after the second worst genocidal dictator of history (after Mao).  Nobody but blithering idiots names a street after Hitler, after all, and it strikes me that the cult of Putin is showing itself for what any sane observer knows it really is; a bid for the revival of the old Soviet Union.

And in honor of that attempted revival...great memories of my childhood.

Murder for your 13th Amendment rights?

This article is an interesting take on the 13th Amendment;  more or less, that since an abortion ban would compel a woman to carry her baby to term, it amounts to involuntary servitude, and thus abortion must be allowed.  Lost in Judge Kollar-Kotelly's analysis is another little thing; does the state's requirement for parents to care for their children amount to slavery as well, and hence not just abortion, but homicide, is permissible for parents?

As much as parents might sometimes agree, I think our answer must be "no".  And shocker here; this judge is a Clinton appointee.  Folks, it does matter who you vote for, and if you vote for Democrats, this is the kind of thing you're supporting.