You know that scene in Goodfellas where the Ray Liotta character explains how they steal everything out of the bar they took over and then finally torch it to get the insurance money. That's America. Trump and friends are the wiseguys. And we're being torched right now. And we aren't doing anything about it. The press keeps waiting for him to turn into FDR or even Nixon. #

Podcast: What will it be like when the lights come back on? We've never turned off the world economy like this. We have had disasters where whole cities were decimated, but the world around them was able to absorb the flow of people, and send enough people and money in to rebuild. But what happens when there is no place to go, nor enough people to come in and help rebuild? #

Added a docs page for PagePark plugins.#

Mathew Ingram shared a relaxing clip of the creek near his house. #

I did the Census today. Noted the only choices for gender were male and female. Also they didn't ask about my occupation. I wonder if that's related to age.#

My friend told Facebook that his birthday is April 1 (it’s not) and all of the happy birthday wishes show up on his timeline as if on schedule. The best part is he doesn’t have to do a thing. Facebook does all the work.#

I'm going to turn 65 soon, so it's time to apply for Medicare. I finally got serious about it. I found the page where you apply for it, read the instructions, watched the video and thought this is going to be a breeze. I do this kind of stuff all the time. So I started to set up an account. They ask for your SSN, date of birth, address, phone, email address. I entered them all. It said no, you didn't do it right, go back and do it again. No indication which part they didn't like. So I tweaked my address. Still it doesn't like it. So I took out my middle initial, thinking my father, when he set up this account for me in 1957 or so might have left this out. They said no, and that's it for 24 hours. You can't keep doing this the message said. I guess they figured I was trying to hijack my account? So I tried calling the number they gave for assistance. Oy. I got every piece of information they think I might be looking for. It's pretty grim stuff. I left a callback number. #

My NYC correspondent. "I was already cautiously optimistic that the virus is milder than we realize, because of the testing bias towards very ill patients. Now there's evidence that may be true, from a Dutch study that would not only explain why it spreads so well, but is an argument for why 100% of the population should wear masks in public, and why we should exhaustively test healthy people as well. The more people who have already been infected with sub-clinical or no symptoms, the lower and sooner the peak will be, at least here in NYC where it's already likely to sweep the population."#

How about a science and math focused news network.#

Nate Silver is running an interesting poll. #

They did a movie about Trump, one of the best of all time.#

MSNBC would be doing a great public service if they re-aired Cuomo's briefing in the time slot they've been giving to Trump. He's setting the example for the rest of the country. They would be saving American lives if they help him lead. #

My NYC correspondent. "At least two co-workers sound like they have it, but both have been doing fine with mild symptoms (it's a young and healthy group, though). This is bad, but I think by June NYC is going to be the most resilient and functional city, with experience and infrastructure and also lots of people who are resistant because they've already gotten it. California is doing really well with distancing but I'm worried they'll face a bad second wave in the fall."#

Why do reporters keep showing up for Trump pressers, and then spend endless hours talking about it. It's like the character in Harry Met Sally played by Carrie Fisher. You're right, you're right he's never going to leave her.#

We were warned.#

I wish there were a fully networked SimCity where my friends' cities and mine could trade. And we could have lockdowns and shut down the airports, and have Covid-19 outbreaks. We could kill all the Sims, and then boom, reincarnate them. #

One of the best things you can do to love the web again is decentralize. Start your own blog, and post links to social media sites. Then you're building on the resilience of the net, instead of concentrating on a potential single point of failure.#

From a friend in NYC, a picture of the tents in the East Meadow of Central Park, across from Mount Sinai Hospital.#

"Shifty, scheming person that will do whatever they need to to escape whatever they fear in the moment." Yup that sounds like our president. #

From Don Park. Unboxing video showing contents of the relief kit sent to South Koreans in self-isolation after testing positive.#

Every day I start with a blank slate here on Scripting News and I wonder if I'll find anything to put here. Maybe today it will be an empty page? Then I have breakfast, drink some coffee, catch up on what people are saying, and then comes the flood. 💥#

From Dave Carlick a link to a video from the Czech Republic minister of health saying it's time for everyone to wear a mask. I had mask-envy. People have such nice store-bought masks. I have some on order from Amazon, but who knows when they'll be here. Just got an email saying oops we're going to be late. Maybe May or June. In the meantime a neighbor made me a beautful denim mask (see below) which I will wear proudly when I go to town.#

Dev work: A few days ago I asked how to use regex to mash up paths for web requests. In the end I went another way, adding a long-wanted plug-in capability to PagePark, my labor-of-love Node-based web server. I found a really Nodey way to do it, much better imho than using eval or vm. I use modules. A lot of people don't know they can be in files, not just distributed through NPM. It's a really nice way to do plug-ins, and it's made something cool possible with Little Outliner. More on that later. In the meantime I've written up the use of modules as PagePark plug-ins in the thread about regex. Still diggin!#

BTW, here's an example of a PagePark plug-in. #

This is a must-read article. Summary. There won't be enough testing, probably for the rest of the year. Same with ventilators and gear to protect the medical people. What's missing is national leadership, to tell people the truth, let us know what we're needed to do. We can accept that. What is killing us is the constant chaos. #

Very interesting visual of the progression of the disease.#

Dwight Eisenhower: "Leadership consists of nothing but taking responsibility for everything that goes wrong and giving your subordinates credit for everything that goes well."#

I'm buying stuff on Amazon that's scheduled to be delivered in June. I want to see if the world will still be here then. I can smile if the packages arrive. Oh I guess we made it, I'll snicker to myself loudly.#

On MSNBC they're talking about all the horrendous shit Trump did at the briefing where no news was made except what a POS he is. Come on. This is too easy and a waste of good news people. Trump being an asshole is not news. Just. Stop.#

I must use this huge plate of crawfish as my header image. #

People who are worried, now, if Biden is electable. An analogy. You're married to a crazy man. He's got a gas can and matches. He's soaked your kids in gasoline, and is ready to light them up. You're thinking about your next husband. You're crazy.#

I bet Google knows where the hot spots are.#

I always feel better when the sun rises. 🌞#

The companies didn’t need bailouts. Take United Airlines for example. They would have gone bankrupt, their assets sold to pay creditors. There would still be a United Airlines. The planes would still fly. The shareholders would have lost everything. Owning stock is risky, or it should be -- especially when you don't save for a rainy day as United didn't. Same old shit. Upside is private. Downside is socialist. We need real health care, people need food, a place to live, a job. We had the opportunity now to ensure all that. We’re trying to prop up an old obsolete system. People are left to fend for themselves, but stockholders are made whole.#

This video from Saudi Arabia demonstrates how CV spreads in the most memorable way I've seen. #

Google, Apple, Facebook all know where people are moving around and where they’re locked down. People in pre-CV America would have freaked if they made the data public, in aggregate. Personally I’d love to see it.#

Those of us who are locked down should know that our lockdown doesn't really begin until every state in the country does it.#

This time thanks to Trump the entire country is ground zero.#

My friend Om Malik, one of the original bloggers and now a VC, has started a podcast, because what else does he have to do. This is a silver lining to the pandemic. All kinds of OG bloggers are dusting off their websites and getting back to work. #

We're updating the Cuomo podcast, still have to submit it to various podcast aggregators, and Woodstock Today is catching on in the community. #

We are now clawing our way up the other side of the abyss. Making features for the CV epoch. Wheee! 💥#

This week's Radio Open Source is worth a listen. The economics of Coronavirus. They breezed by a huge issue. Millions of Americans without health insurance, no savings, no job, sick, homeless, hungry, plus guns. The ticking time bomb I wrote about briefly on March 21. The so-called stimulus Congress passed, what a joke, does nothing to address this. I would much preferred see the $2 trillion give everyone the health care they need, keep us all fed, and reboot the economy around serving the people of the country. The UK did this, by guaranteeing 80% of people's salaries for the duration. They already have a national health care system. We are headed for a big crash. Congress didn't deal with it. #

I think it's clear now that if SXSW had gone on as scheduled, Austin would now be a hot spot for the virus, like New Orleans or New York.#

I don't feel good about this. I was glad to hear Boris Johnson got the CV, not because I hold anything against him, but if he can get it so can Trump. And I think that would be good for Americans who are scared out of our minds about this disease esp because our president is not.#

It helps to remember we are an occupied country. Vichy America. The person at the podium is our Marshal Pétain. #

Here's a howto for the Cuomo daily podcast. #

BTW, for techies, here's a look at the actual XML of the feed. Browsers work hard to hide this from us, but it's interesting even if you don't know what all the elements do. #

I wonder how much more effective the lockdown would be if we all had good supplies of disinfectant. I have none. It's been two weeks. Why is there such a lag in producing hand sanitizers and wipes?#

If our country is to have strong national borders, we need a uniform lockdown policy across the whole country. Or else we have to form federations of states with identical policies. This is starting to happen in the northeast, btw.#

If Glenn Beck is so ready to die, he should kill himself, or shut up and let the dying speak for themselves to the extent they can. #

Imagine there’s a fire burning in your apartment building. Your apartment is engulfed in flame. The president says it’s time to go home, sends the fire department away. Back to work!#

Another analogy. General Patton is leading us to war with a dangerous enemy. He gives us an inspiring speech. Then he changes his mind and surrenders.#

Trump is suing to get this taken off the TV. I don't know why. It's all about Trump. I thought he liked the attention. #

I guess Trump's lawyers never heard of the Streisand Effect. #

Another silver lining. We're finding out which countries have the best health care systems.#

I'm looking into how to submit a podcast to Apple, and was surprised that their feed requirements are perfectly reasonable. I was expecting horrors.#

Podcast feed for Cuomo daily briefing. Thanks to Richard Bluestein for doing the conversion to MP3. We now have two episodes. Questions or comments here. #

I have a friend whose birthday is today. This is what I wrote on her timeline. "Not much chance of a happy birthday this year, so I wish you some happiness today, maybe for a few moments before the sense of dread takes over again. This is what passes for birthday greetings in 2020."#

People wait in long line at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens.#

Someone should ask Trump what kind of country would we have with no health care because all the doctors are dead. Of course when it happens he’ll say “no one could have foreseen..” The US will beg first world countries to send us doctors. #

I just realized local news is a lot more relevant now. When Gov Cuomo speaks, I listen carefully now.#

The UK is getting its act together, after a bad start, meanwhile in the United States we know what to do, but can’t get our president to stop sulking. If he wants everyone to get back to work, he should set the example. Quit crying and do your job or get out of the way.#

I find this mesmerizing. #

Audio of Gov Cuomo's press conference for today. My next project is to figure out how to flow this through an RSS feed so it can be a podcast. Richard Bluestein did the MP3. More tomorrow. #

Let Trump ride on the NYC subway for a couple of hours every day and see how he feels then. Turning on the economy in NYC, which is probably what he cares about, means cramming millions of people into virus-infested subway cars each for an hour or two every day. If Trump wants to ride with them, well I'd be impressed, and would also ask Mike Pence to be ready to assume the presidency. Trump may have forgotten that at age 73, he's in the expendable class according to his Republican (supposed) friends. Make sure your will is current Mr President. #

Braintrust query: I grok regex, but I have a mental block against working in it. It's weird because I used it all the time when I was a grad student, but after programming on PCs and Macs, I became regex-phobic.#

I'm looking for volunteers to produce MP3s every day after Gov Cuomo's talks. I want to have it be a podcast feed. I can do all the RSS work. #

Don't waste time on Trump's idiotic idea. He just wants to own a news cycle. He remembers what that was like. He's a troll, now and forever, even with our lives. Don't take the bait.#

George Patton: "The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his."#

Pelosi, make a condition of the stimulus that Trump resign.#

Why America is so bad at Covid-19. It’s our attitude, there are never consequences for Americans. That’s for other people. We have wars and tax cuts at the same time. We don’t see the coffins of our returning dead. Nothing happens to us. We can’t imagine things not being normal. The generation that grew up during World War II, who experienced the Holocaust, the advent of nuclear weapons, that generation is gone now. Everyone alive today, not just boomers, have been spoiled. We're all coming awake now from a life-long trance. For the first time in our lives, we have to deal with the mortality of our country. Don't cry for America. It's time to grow up, again. Couldn't have a more perfect person as president. It's easy to see he is our past. Now how do we move beyond that. #

My parents were born in 1929 (father) and 1932 (mother), in Bucharest and Prague. They fled from the Nazis as children with their parents, to NYC. Their lives were formed in chaos.#

I always wondered why bike delivery people in NYC put plastic bags over the handles of their bikes. Today I found out. "They keep your hands warm, particularly when you're biking really fast and the wind is bad. Can still access the gears and brakes this way, which you couldn't do easily in gloves."#

Went to a local supermarket this morning. It was empty of people. The shelves were pretty well stocked. I went because a friend told me there were paper products. I got four rolls of paper towels. And two packages of bacon (why not, who knows when we'll see it again). #

Note to people who manage websites that deliver timely and vital information about the virus. Think clearly about the user experience. Some sites have popups and cluttered templates, even paywalls. If technical people want to do something to help, i.e. the people who read this blog, try to simplify and ease access to your sites. #

Nothing like impending doom to focus the mind. 💥 #

I watched the finale of season 3 of The Expanse without realizing it was the last episode before Amazon took it over. It was masterful. I'm going to have to watch it again. BTW, my favorite character is Drummer. I am a Belter, for sure. #

People who make Skype should watch cable news. What's wrong? Why do so many of the remote experts look and sound so shitty. Come on you all can do better! 🚀#

I read in an article about China and South Korea how they relied on location data from people's phones to know where contagious people had been. NakedJen had to install one of these apps before they'd let her enter the country, just to switch planes. I'm guessing that in the US we can't use that data even though companies like Google, Apple and Facebook have it. The context has changed, and now trillions of dollars are at stake, the existence of our economy, our lives (hope that's not too dramatic). Perhaps it's time to re-think our assumptions. #

Amy Klobuchar's husband has CV.#

Susan Collins believes that Coronavirus has learned its lesson.#

I try to imagine living in NYC as I did for 8 years, riding in the elevator up to your apartment and thinking about all the people you're riding up with. Even in normal times this can be disturbing. ;-)#

Do we know that people who have had the virus are immune?#

I try to imagine living in Manhattan as I did for 8 years, riding in the elevator up to your apartment and thinking about all the people you're riding up with. Even in normal times this can be disturbing. ;-) #

I like to question assumptions, in that I find things worth doing. I've always been that way. For a long time I thought everyone did it.#

If we're going to survive this pandemic, Trump is going to have to step aside. How to make that happen?#

I have a rule. No online debates. Here's a reason why. Even with friends there could be a basic disconnect early in the discussion. If it's done in voice, you can hear that. In text you might not hear it until you've gone back four or five times. Feelings get hurt.#

A chimpanzee using Instagram. #

A wonderful and literate story of how CV infects your body. No spoilers, I won't say how the story ends. It's really well-written, the title doesn't do it justice. #

Rand Paul getting CV is going to rock the government.#

I think we're all slowly coming to the realization that none of us have the imagination to cope with what's coming. It's a slow motion disaster of unprecedented proportion. #

I went to New Orleans in December 2005 after Katrina to see what it was like. To see what an American city was like after it was half-destroyed. What I learned would inform the people making financial decisions in DC. They're not understanding what's going to be left when this is done. Saving corporations is not a possibility. We should be focused on surviving as people and a country. In Katrina people had somewhere to evacuate to. This time we don't. On the other hand nothing we made need be destroyed. It should mostly be here when we emerge. I suppose pirates could hijack airplanes, or occupy skyscrapers in Manhattan. A question I learned to ask from New Orleans. Who's going to supply the supply chain? They had trouble rebuilding because there was no place for the builders to sleep, and no food for them to eat, and no one to prepare it because they had nowhere to live. We need really smart people there thinking and planning. Yet this is the fog of war. We have very little data on the enemy. #

I've been calling it CV, not Coronavirus or whatever.#

Teachers parade through school neighborhoods so the students could see them.#

How are news orgs going to keep going without advertising?#

New header image, a country road between winter and spring. I hated the previous image. Brrr.#

I wasn't alive during FDR's fireside chats, but I imagine they were something like what Gov Cuomo is doing now.#

I’m watching The Expanse slowly. They’re fighting something unknown and alien. I watch it because the characters are so compelling.#

2018: Facebook is a system for figuring out what kind of bullshit you like and then giving it to you.#

The opportunity for science fiction writers to build in the new reality. Start from where we are now, and imagine a path for reality to take that is interesting to the analytical mind. Problem is once you start writing, the baseline will have moved down a different path. Still could be interesting. #

These two tweets were one above the other in my timeline.#

I gather Trump is having another press conference. We should all have blood pressure monitors hooked up to the net, with a realtime display. You could tell a lot.#

I had to run errands into Kingston just now and heard Gov Cuomo's press conference. He is masterful. I feel like there's someone in charge who knows what to do and is doing it. I feel lucky to live in New York State, wish we had something approaching that kind of leadership in Washington.#

Now I wish there were a podcast feed for his press conferences so I could listen to them asynchronously. I won't always be able to listen when they're happening. Maybe this is something WNYC or the NY Times could do? Betaworks?#

Rachel Maddow cried at the end of her show last night. I assume for her colleague, a man about my age, who died of CV. But it meant something personal to each of us. I saw it as her crying for the end of America. Reagan was right, government is the problem. But not the way Reagan meant it. I don't know what goes through the minds of the Republicans in Washington, I can't find a bottom to their depravity. It's possible they're masochists. They feel they, and we, deserve to die.#

There’s a ticking time bomb. The people who don’t have health insurance and don’t have savings or a job and aren’t part of the stimulus, these people are going to be broke, hungry, homeless and sick. And on CNN they’re talking about Trump's racist tweets.#

Most times we can convince ourselves that in the immediate future: 1. We will remain alive and well. 2. Our friends and family will too. What's so unsettling about the moment: Now we know that either, we will be sick or die, or some of our friends and family will. I think that's why we are all reaching out to our friends now, and re-establishing the connection, because we want to hold them close so they don't leave us. It's a good thing. In this week's Radio Open Source, at the end, Andrew Sullivan talks about that re AIDS, which he experienced as a gay man in the 80s and 90s. I experienced it as a man with a fatally sick heart in the 00s. After being fixed, I felt like I wanted to die. Weird, right? But real. We call the first feeling "normal." Over time, this will become normal. Then at some point, if we survive, a vaccine or treatment will come about. And we'll go through the unsettled feeling again.#

Podcast: Remember how we lived. An 18-minute story about the world we came from and questions about the one we'll create. #

If we get out of this alive, let's all work together, and respect each other, listen, and not judge people before getting to know them. #

Stewart Brand: Is it worth going to the ICU?#

Based on the Kinsa map it looks like Florida is the next hot spot for Covid19.#

I wish the Bloomberg campaign organization had stayed in it. They were sharp, irreverent, and the first effective pushback on Trump since he took office. Now the money goes to the DNC, to disappear into a void of nothingness.#

Following the travels of NakedJen. She made it to Seoul. I had a voice chat with her just after midnight Eastern. I wanted to discuss a possible twist to her travels. In Seoul, she has a good network through the University of Utah. Of course it's one of the few places where the virus is being fought effectively, the US is a somewhere between a shitshow and a clusterfuck. I wanted to suggested she skip the return to the US and just stay there for the duration. Of course she was thinking about that. She had decided to let fate determine the outcome. If her flight to Seattle wasn't canceled she would return. If not, she'd stay in Seoul, and not try to return through some other hub like Dubai. It's pretty clear now that there aren't going to be many, if any, more flights to the US from South Korea, or anywhere for that matter. At about 5AM, I got a text saying she was on the plane. A few minutes later it took off. I'm happy, I'd like to see her again, and I'm not sure that could happen if she had stayed there. Also, I'm not sure if Jen is better off here, but we are. 💥#

Update: 11PM Eastern -- NakedJen is in SLC. She will have many stories to tell. #

Reuters has a live stream of Times Square. #

I saw a video of Trump listening to Pence speak on a conference call. People said he looked bored, but that's not what I saw. I saw he resented having to listen to Pence. What was Pence talking about? Saving our lives. Yeah. That's not important.#

Trump has to go, now, or we die.#

I got a thermometer. My temperature is 98.1.#

Renting cruise ships seems like a good idea. Park them in the Hudson River, and use them for isolation. They have all the systems you need to keep people going. Or better yet instead of bailing out the cruise ship lines, buy the boats. We're going to need them for a long time. And will want to modify them. #

In my experience it’s times like these when real progress is made in tech.#

If you're a longtime reader of my blog, you know one of my best friends is NakedJen of Salt Lake City and Santa Cruz. Deadhead. First of her name. Dog person. Movie lover. Advocate for beets. "The first faerie off the ferry." The cute little nut. That's Jen. Anyway, the CLN decided just as all hell was about to break loose in SLC to go to Bali. I watched it happen. I didn't say anything because I was sure lots of people were saying it. If this is what was meant to be, so be it. Anyway, as the shit began to hit the fan here, after Trump closed us off from Europe, I got word that Jen is coming home. Good. It hasn't been easy. Few flights, and lots of cancellations. But -- her flight from Bali to Seoul is at 1AM, which is 1PM Eastern. From there, I'm guessing she goes to Los Angeles and then to Salt Lake. I'm sure Jen will be Jen where ever she is. If she has to weather this out in Bali, or Seoul, or even LA. But we really do want her back in the good old US of A. #

Jen is now on the plane. Reminds me of this scene in Casablanca. #

My list of local businesses is coming together. Then I had another idea, a barter system. For example, I have a lot of toilet paper. I need a thermometer, hand sanitizer and wipes. I would trade.#

Speaking of thermometers, I really want a Kinsa. Heard about it on Maddow this evening, what a great idea, a network of thermometers. Can they spot outbreaks of Coronavirus? You can read about it in the NYT. #

Horn & Hardart automats would be a perfect way to serve takeout food. No human-human contact. They were supposed to be the future when I was a kid, but they went the way of Chock Full o'Nuts coffee shops in NYC.#

Maybe part of the trillion dollar stimulus could given to news orgs to temporarily take down their paywalls. #

The trillion dollar stimulus should go to shoring up the hospitals and food supply chain, and making sure people have enough money for basics. We should not be bailing out the travel industry. By the time this is over there will not be a travel industry. Money spent there is as foolish as spending money on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Don't piss this away. We need help.#

I ordered a thermometer on Amazon for delivery sometime in April. They sent an email that it just shipped and it'll be here by March 23. How could that be? Are they sending it via bicycle? Well, turns out it's coming from China. We should be nice to China. We need them. They're going to help me keep track of my temperature. Maybe alleviate a little of my anxiety. Now the question is will UPS deliver it to me, or automatically return it without trying. Something they've been doing for a while now. #

Speaking of anxiety, I've been relatively anxiety-free since I got out on my own in my early 20s. All through my childhood I had terrible anxiety, which manifested in an unhappy digestive system. Always had a stomach ache, trouble controlling my bowels. Upset. I was always upset. I understood why totally, my parents created a very tense atmosphere, and after many years of therapy and self-examination I understood why they were so tense. But a few years after I established myself outside their house the digestive problems magically went away. They're back. Started just after watching Trump's Oval Office speech last Wednesday. I was already hunkered down. I understood what was coming. What was clear from his speech that he didn't. He was still throwing out racist bullshit. From the fucking Oval Office. After that, I realized fully how fucked we are. There have been moments of relaxation. But they're few and far between now. #

On March 5, this is what was on the home page here. #

Amazon has become the indispensible company.#

CBC Radio: How a chance meeting between a software developer and a longtime NPR host led to podcasting as we know it today.#

Anthony Fauci is a master of communication and math. #

Highly recommend today's Daily podcast -- an interview with a doctor in Bergamo, Italy. They give an idea of where our hospitals will be in two weeks if we don't lock down immediately. It should be a country-wide thing now. Every day we delay makes it that much worse. #

I met a driver for a big delivery company that does a lot of work for Amazon. He said they can't get gloves or hand cleaners. They know the boxes carry the virus for up to a day. Can't get time off to take care of the kids, so the grandmother is. The union is involved. Sounds like the whole thing is about to be shut down, which of course should not be allowed to happen. We need direct-to-home delivery. It's hugely important. If we had a government this would be high on the priority list. #

Airlines and cruise ships should be allowed to die.#

Additions to the list of notables with Coronavirus.#

“We don’t have a clear exit strategy,” Dr. Ferguson said of the recommended measures. “We’re going to have to suppress this virus — frankly, indefinitely — until we have a vaccine.”#

This is an incredible time for reconnecting with old friends. Everyone has time now. No need to schedule a phone talk for three weeks hence. I know a lot of people who know a lot, I’m recalling.#

They asked Italians to record a message for themselves 10 days ago. It's beautiful, inspiring and tragic all at the same time. Must-watch.#

I started a list of notables who have the virus.#

The stock market is saying very clearly -- Trump must resign, now. Please pass this on. Thanks.#

Someone should make a video game for the iPad (where I play) that simulates a virus infecting the population of Earth. Your job is to keep the most people alive and win re-election for the president (who randomly might be Trump, Obama, Hubert Humphrey or Elizabeth Warren). Or if you prefer, you can crash the civilization, have everyone behave badly, and die horrible deaths. You get to be god, as with SimCity. This might be called SimVirus. I bet someone has already done it. #

It looks like South Korea is going back to work. The difference between having a real government and a fake government. #

This is why yesterday's grand announcement of 1.9 million tests wasn't very convincing. They've been bungling every step of the way. So what happens when the end of the week comes and there are still no tests.#

The stock market says Trump must go.#

Two doctors I admire and trust have told me what my mother told me years ago. Take Vitamin D. It helps the body fight acute respiratory infection. Also, get outside, get sun and exercise. #

Enoch Choi: "With Cuomo’s request for military support, I expect the army to deploy DMAT hospitals to hardest hit areas in coming days, NY, WA, CA. They deployed to Katrina when my dad and I were the first in St Bernard to arrive. Praying for my friends who volunteer in them. The demand outstripped availability there, and I expect the same as what happened then, that churches will serve the vast majority, since Red Cross/NGOs will be outstripped in capacity as well." #

New header image. Part of a photo from the National Archives of an emergency hospital for influenza patients in Brookline, MA. Previous image was a snowy mountaintop in the Catskills. #

Jennifer Gunter: "When a company doesn’t give their employees sick leave not only are they saying they don’t care about their employees they’re also saying they don’t care about their customers."#

Coco in San Jose: "I am so grateful for all the people still delivering the mail and packages and keeping basic services running."#

Yvonne, a programmer, now working from home: "Hot water with lemon and cayenne in the morning. Staying home and noticing that I haven't watered the plants for a really long time. Vacuuming while waiting for the long queries to run."#

Proving there is hope for the world, Ted Cruz tweeted something true, elegant and bi-partisan. I decided to unblock him, but not necessarily permanently.#

A ten-minute podcast I recorded nine days ago, but didn't publish. At the end I say why. Even I thought it was crazy, delusional. Since then however the story proved true. It's why I write and record my thoughts. I want to remember the perspective of events before, during and after they happen. Listening to James Taylor talk about his music, the one thing he doesn't mention in the long list of roles music plays in our lives is that it brings old memories to the surface. Listening to his songs takes me back to high school, young love, and the wild random and erratic ideas I had as a teen. Writing isn't as strong a stimulus as music, but it's what I do. And podcasting too of course. Story-telling. So much has happened in the last nine days, every one of the upcoming nine days is no doubt going to be equally consequential. We're living out the crazy consequences of believing somehow as if by magic it all would take care of itself. To keep my fears at bay, to feel strong and consequential, I keep in mind what Syrio says to Arya to say to Death: Not today. A new motto! 💥#

Another must-listen podcast from Chris Lydon. The take-away is that our political system hasn't yet realized that we need to go to single-payer for all, now, if we want to have as good an outcome as Italy, which is to say a very shitty outcome. Ours is on track to be much worse because the uninsured can't enter the system, therefore will continue to infect even people with insurance. We're set suffer here in the US a lot more. There will be a debate tomorrow night, and if Biden isn't tuned into this, Sanders is going to clean his clock. And I suspect Biden isn't. And there's a chance that Sanders isn't thinking clearly either, but I kind of doubt it. Nothing focuses the mind like losing. Action-item: before the debate, Biden should give a speech outlining a Medicare-for-all-now program. Give Sanders proper credit. At the debate he can offer to delegate the implementation of this to Sanders. Create unity right there on the debate stage. The Democrats in Congress are not without power. Trump is crazy to think the only criteria people will care about is the stock market. People who unnecessarily lose friends and relatives to this disease are likely to care about that more. Never waste a good crisis. Now is the time to reform health care in the US. #

I bought a spiffy domain for my Woodstock Today page. #

A story from 2008. I was living in Berkeley. During the financial meltdown, I was driving on Solano Ave with my friend Tori. I asked if she thought the stores would still be there in a year. I imagined we were headed for the Stone Age, our economy would be based on barter, and a lot of us would die. Kind of the way I feel now. Tori paused and said they would still be there. And they were. #

Just tried something funny. I ordered something on Amazon that won't be available till April. A bottle of off-brand hand sanitizer. $12. Let's see if the world still exists in April. 💥#

Ronald Reagan famously asked Mikhail Gorbachev if they could set aside their differences if the world was invaded by aliens. Gorbachev said hell yes. #

On NPR this morning, they said almost 50 percent of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. This is going to be a huge problem, shortly.#

Silver lining. People are searching for meaning in their lives. We're on the cusp of getting there. We need each other. Ads on TV are from a different world, one that is gone now. Meaning is here. Helping each other to survive. Can't get more meaningful than that. #

I wish the Washington Post would take down the paywall on this piece. Everyone should read it.#

On Thursday I recommended listening to the Daily podcast. They had an interview with NYT reporter Donald McNeil who explained how they fought Covid19 in China. He was on Maddow that night, and they posted a video of his talk on Twitter. If you haven't seen it, stop everything, now, and watch it. You'll get so much more information about what we're up against. China appears to have beaten it. Ultimately we will have to do the same, if we don't want it to spread to everyone. #

Andrew Sullivan, as usual, nails it. #

Italians in lockdown all over Italy are keeping each other company by singing, dancing and playing music from the balconies. A thread to celebrate the resilience of ordinary people. #

I've started a page of notes for Woodstock in the here and now. #

The preparation for Covid19 is something like the prep for a big hurricane. Everything is fine. But the supermarket shelves are empty. People are boarding up the windows. You wonder if you've done enough to prepare. What it will be like to die like this.#

People who focus on Trump waste focus. He's even more dangerous to himself than he is to us. He's the kind of person that the virus gets first. His age and physical condition make him vulnerable, and he isn't protecting himself.#

We should focus our attention on critical businesses. The supply chain for food, electric, communication (phone, internet). And a massive moon mission type program to create hospital beds and train new people to treat the sick. We're going to wish we had very soon.#

I am the very model of the modern full stack developer.#

I just added Fox News to the list of What Should Close. #

I woke up in the middle of the night and for the first time in a long time I was certain the world is about to end. Thankfully, the last N times I've felt this way it didn't happen.#

Every time Trump speaks the bottom falls out of something else we depend on to survive.#

I'm keeping the list of What Should Close updated. #

I had to drive to the car dealer today to pick up my car. Along the way, I had many opportunities to pick up the virus. First was when I crossed the Rhinecliff Bridge and had to stop to pay a toll. The toll booth operator had gloves on. I gave her six quarters and before continuing, I wiped the hand that touched hers. Her glove was accumulating all the viruses on everyone's hands who paid the toll. At the dealer, I had to sign a form to get my car back. They gave me a pen to use. I had no idea who else had used the pen. They did have hand sanitizer on the desk. I used it. Also thought about stealing it, but didn't. When I got my car, I rubbed down the steering wheel with sanitizer. Forgot to wipe the gear shift or the controls for the heating system, until after I touched them. On the way back I got a car wash. Paid the attendant $12 in cash, and he gave me change, again in cash. I thought about all the people who had touched the bills, including the attendant. #

The tragedy of America's non-response to the virus is explained in today's Daily podcast. If you want to know the truth and what we should be demanding of our government, this is a must-listen. #

People who think they're humane, even liberal or progressive, think they have big hearts, treat people like statistics. Maybe part of the good of this virus is wakes people up that we're all human, mortal, frail.#

Another great podcast. Fresh Air interview with RuPaul.#

They said RuPaul is in the B-52s Love Shack video. I used to ski to that song in Park City. Really brings back memories. #

An easy feel-good thing for Trump to announce last night. The government is giving Purell $1 billion to make as much hand sanitizer as they can. One bottle per person. A little thing, but man it would make people happy.#

I had anxiety about Covid19 for the first time this morning. This could be it. But if it isn't, I have some great software in mind. Funny how being this scared brings out the creativity. On the other hand if this is the time to go -- I'd rather have it be in a plot of a terrible science fiction novel than say going in my sleep. The drama of Trump's speech last night. At one point I thought he was losing it and was going to start talking like Jerry Lewis in the Nutty Professor. I think that would have been good for everyone, but he got himself back on track. His eyes are dead. No one home. #

Writing yesterday's Scripting News felt a lot like writing the blog on 9/11/2001, with the realization that far more people will die, and this time there is something every one of us can do, both individually and collectively, but because of no leadership, we aren't. #

Poll: Assuming the Democratic nominee is Joe Biden, who should he choose as a running mate?#

A community project: What should close.#

We were warned. #

Tsunami is an apt analogy. Until it hits, all is perfectly normal. #

Angela Merkel got it right. Slow the spread of the virus so the health system has a chance to save our lives. Of course they have a real health care system in Germany, unlike the US.#

I've been reading about and hearing from friends in Italy. My fellow Americans think panic is the problem. They've been trained by terrorism, where it is. This is different. The faster you grok the danger, the less danger there is.#

Instead of listening to podcasts about the virus I started listening to a great audiobook today -- James Taylor's memoir. The audiobook is the way to go because he plays his guitar while he's narrating. Many of his famous songs are all autobiographical. And his story is surprising. I didn't know anything about him. (Hold on. It's an audio memoir. There is no written version. Makes total sense.)#

There is only one god, and his name is Death. And there is only one thing we say to Death: not today. #

The bigger the landslide, the greater the optimism, which is what the recovery will be built from, not mere votes in Congress. Whoever wins should create a bond with the electorate that lasts past the election. Not a fake bond, a real one.#

A reader wrote, wanting to use LO2, but lacking a Twitter account. Asked if I could produce a version that didn't require it. I said yes, but it would take about a month during which I did nothing else. On the other hand it would take you about five minutes to create a Twitter account only for this purpose.#

BTW, you can read this blog without using Twitter. I try to make sure of that. But imho it is way better if you do use Twitter. I see this as expediant. I could clone Twitter, and wait for everyone to use it, and I might end up waiting forever. And I don't have that much time. Or I could just use Twitter. It's like driving my car with Exxon gas. I'm sure some of the gas I put in the car actually comes from a hated company. But what the fuck. I can't fight every battle. #

We have to slow transmission of the virus. The sooner we change our mindset the more people will be able to get help when they’re infected.#

We should make a list of activities that should come to a stop now. For example, movie theaters are done. In-person sports events. Offices, schools, mass transit. You can help build the list by replying to this tweet.#

I might be starting to love Joe Biden.#

Think about it this way. What if you got a 2-week advance notice that something really shitty was about to happen, and you actually know a lot about what will happen. I listened to a podcast with an expert on this stuff, and he said we got lucky this time. Imagine that. We got lucky, weird, but yes we did.#

Biden's campaign song should be this.#

This is how the Italian quarantine works. "People can leave their homes to get to and from work, a health appointment, family necessity such as food shop. Otherwise stay inside. If kids are going stir crazy they can be taken for walk. But no gatherings of people."#

Highly recommend this week's Open Source podcast, esp the first segment, an interview with Yale professor Frank Snowden, for a historic perspective of Covid19.#

When last night's email went out, it sent Saturday's posts, not Sunday's. This is pretty hard to debug, I'd have to recreate the conditions of various databases at midnight last night. At first I thought the problem must be related to the Daylight Savings Time switch on Saturday night, but on second thought, how could it? It doesn't really seem likely. And the relevant machines auto-updated their clocks. So for now, I'm going to wait to see what happens tonight. If the right stuff goes out, then I'll just call it an edge case or cosmic rays (programmerese for Act of God) and move on. #

BTW, if you want to catch up, here's a direct link to the archive page for Sunday. And the linkblog page. #

Back in the world of the mundane, recall that I've had a problem with UPS deliveries for a while, so I was amazed today when a UPS truck showed up. Alas, it was just a temp driver, subbing for the permanent one. One day we will get this worked out. 🤷#

This is great. The Gates Foundation is backing a program to issue home testing kits for Covid19 in Seattle. #

The Magna Carta of Cancel Culture. The single worst idea promulgated on the net.#

$8.3 billion isn't nearly enough. It's pathetic. It shows that no one in our government has a clue about the scale of the problem. We need enough money to radically change the economics of health care in the US in an instant, the way the Chinese built new hospitals for Covid-19 patients. We, uniquely in the world, have the ability, at least for now, to make that much capital come into existence. We don't need to take out loans or increase the deficit. We need the money to provide for the sick, at home or in hospital, and to keep the supply chains open even if people aren't working and therefore can't afford what the supply chain is producing. We have to think clearly. #