OneGuyFromBarlick

"As we go towards a more automated home you have to acknowledge that, somewhere along the line, things will fall over," said Stuart Miles, founder of the tech site Pocket-Lint. "Robots and automated systems have hiccups along the way, it's something we need to get used to."

Seen in a report that pets starved for a week when the `smart' (!) device Petnet failed to function - it `allows owners to schedule and control feeding via a smartphone app'. Petnet failure

Anyone who leaves a pet alone for a week ought to be prosecuted. Jack and I will avoid Petnet!
Just heard this: "Fear and greed rule the markets". That sounds about right, What a lousy basis for a modern economy....

In a BBC report on the 3 separate, unexplained cases of coronavirus today in the USA:
On Friday, the president hit back at Democrats, accusing them of politicising the outbreak. "This is their new hoax," he told a rally in South Carolina. LINK

He doesn't believe climate change is happening, he promotes the anti-vax campaign, now he thinks the Covid virus is a hoax.

Like all con-men he's insecure and will eventually implode.

Johnson saying he has complete confidence in Ms Patel. So that's all right then.

From Andrew Neil

"President Trump is now the youngest male candidate left in the 2020 presidential contest".

Astonishing David...

It's Super Tuesday in the USA today!

Had a sneaky peek, Biden is slamming Sanders and Bloomberg is trailing in third place. Texas too close to call as yet. Just over half the results in.

Lisa Nandy in her interview with Laura Kuenssberg...
"But you can't just go into an election saying that you're going to spend money, because it's their money. And, as one woman said to me in Wigan in 2017: 'It's our money, love, and we haven't got a lot of it'."

Heard in a BBC interview with a man in East Cowick who had been flooded for the first time in 50 years. "It wasn't on my bucket list...."

“It’s only when the tide goes out that you learn who has been swimming naked.”
Warren Buffet on tough times in the market.

"Epidemiologists study patterns in order to combat infection. Stories about epidemics follow patterns, too. Stories aren't often deadly, but they can be virulent: spreading fast, weakening resistance, wreaking havoc."
Jill Lepore

From a BBC report of Trump banning travel from the Schengen area...
Mr Trump initially said the travel suspension would also "apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo" coming from Europe into the US. He later tweeted to say that trade would "in no way be affected". LINK

He went ahead with his ban without consulting his advisers but one of them must have got to him pretty quick when they saw that first tweet. He's a loose cannon.

Yes, I noted that and have commented elsewhere. A natural consequence of incoherent speech and our PM is another example. It's idle and reprehensible!

"The “system” we have landed ourselves with generates huge wastage in terms of manpower and money because of the arcane complexities of the payment mechanisms and sources. There are actually specialists (usually lawyers or accountants) that do good business helping elderly patients work it all out. My mother had to use one, and he was pretty reasonably priced (as I recall, $25 monthly) because she had three insurance sources (Medicare, my father’s policy, and her own policy). Years ago the Atlantic Magazine attempted to tot up the paperwork costs of the “system” and, as I recall it, came up with something like $100 billion."

Uncle Bob. 13/03/2020. (So treasure the NHS!)

See THIS For Trumps latest gaffe.
"President Donald Trump sent a xenophobic tweet Monday evening, noting that he plans to bail out airlines and other industries “that are particularly affected by the Chinese Virus.”"
There are reports that the trolls immediately sprang into action on social media attacking any one or thing that looks vaguely Asian! God help us when bigoted morons like that are in charge and what's more, supported by 49% of the electorate.

I'm surprised he hasn't been reminding his supporters that the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus came from Mexico!
A newsreader this morning said that `medics traditionally do not use geographical names with viruses' so as to avoid those problems. He was wrong to say traditionally (must be a youngster!), it's a recent change. All the flu viruses used to be known by their origins. I worked on Hong Kong flu and Tokyo flu in the 1960s.

Spanish Flu in 1914 Tiz and let's not forget that Syphilis was the 'French Disease'! Why do we always have to blame another country? (German Measles....)
On a general note, Trump exhibits childish behaviour, all the time!

Claire Balding on a really wet walk this morning. Commenting on how wet it was "My bra is getting wet now!"

Elon Musk, quoted in Buzzfeed: ...said that, based on the evidence he had seen about COVID-19, he doesn’t think it’s “within the top 100 health risks in the United States.” So Musk is a virology expert now! He's also in trouble for saying `Kids are essentially immune..' although the the BBC reports that: WHO's guidance includes detailed methods for treating complications in the disease in children. For example, a study published in the medical journal Pediatrics suggests that 6% of 2,100 cases among children in China were "severe or critical". The global picture of how the virus affects children is still emerging.

We could just shrug this off and say we're all allowed to have our opinion but some people have much more influence than others - Musk has 32 million followers on Twitter. A good (or is it bad) example of how people are more influenced by celebrities than governments.

I take the point and have a very low level of respect for the modern phenomenon of 'influencers'. But Tiz, he might just be statistically correct. Remember the variant of Schroedinger's Cat:
"Schroedinger's Fact: Anything preceded by the phrase 'statistically speaking' can be both true and false at the same time'"

Kev's comment today in the covid thread deserves to be recorded here...
Trump (the orange knob of the apocalypse)

It gets my vote!