Some COVID science (and politics) updates

Last updated on: September 4, 2020 at 10:59 am By Jane the Actuary

Three items: First, Cycle Thresholds. In the New York Times this past weekend: “Your Coronavirus Test Is Positive. Maybe It Shouldn’t Be.” The article explained that PCR testing is not merely a yes-or-no on coronavirus infection, but that it measures the viral load. In particular, “number of amplification cycles needed to find the virus, called the cycle threshold” is crucial information because a higher threshold identifies people as testing positive who have extremely tiny viral loads and are not infectious. ... Read more

Kenosha: questions, opinions, photos

Last updated on: September 2, 2020 at 8:02 pm By Jane the Actuary

Let’s start with the fact that I’m going to assume you’ve been following the case of Jacob Blake and of Kyle Rittenhouse, rather than digging out the basics. But I’ll start with four links: The Daily Wire, August 29: “Kenosha Police Union Offers New Details On Jacob Blake’s Alleged Actions: Attacked Police, Tried To Steal Car, Was Armed” — an account of the police account of the events leading up to the shooting of Jacob Blake, including the sexual assault... Read more

The Mailbox Hoax

Last updated on: August 18, 2020 at 1:06 pm By Jane the Actuary

You know what I mean: the claims by the Left that the federal government is, variously, Defunding the Post Office, Locking up mailboxes, or removing them entirely, and/or Causing the entire postal system to collapse via mismanagement, in order to foil vote-by-mail plans, disenfranchise at-risk-of-covid voters, and steal the election for Trump? With respect to the first, I will remind readers that the Post Office is meant to stand on its own two feet, rather than being a subsidized government... Read more

Let’s talk about natural-born citizens

Last updated on: August 18, 2020 at 9:16 am By Jane the Actuary

I have a stake in this, of course. My youngest son was born in Germany. He meets the rules for citizenship — that is, I an an American citizen and had lived in the US for the required minimum of five years including two after age 14 — and, in fact, has an American Consular Record of Birth as well as a German birth certificate. Is he, in fact, a natural-born citizen? I generally tend to think the answer is... Read more

Yes, We Must Re-Open (Most) Schools

Last updated on: August 3, 2020 at 12:53 pm By Jane the Actuary

This has been bothering me for a while, and yet I’ve hesitated to write about it because to do so properly requires gathering a lot more data than I have, or have access to. But I’ve concluded that perhaps I can shed a bit of my frustration if I put a few words down on (virtual) paper. Here is the headline of a report in Sunday’s Chicago Tribune, which consists of teachers’ comments about returning to classrooms: “‘I’m scared. I... Read more

In which, apparently, the country has completely lost its mind, history-teaching edition

Last updated on: August 3, 2020 at 10:08 am By Jane the Actuary

In the news last night: “Chicago-Area Leaders Call for Illinois to Abolish History Classes.” Here are the first few paragraphs: Leaders in education, politics and other areas gathered in suburban Evanston Sunday to ask that the Illinois State Board of Education change the history curriculum at schools statewide, and temporarily halt instruction until an alternative is decided upon. At a news conference, State Rep. LaShawn K. Ford said current history teachings lead to a racist society and overlook the contributions... Read more

A brief rant on names and pronunciations

Last updated on: July 30, 2020 at 1:59 pm By Jane the Actuary

Featured on NBC News on Tuesday: “Rep. Jayapal asks that her name be properly pronounced after colleague gets it wrong; ‘Jayapal. If you’re going to say my name, please say it right. It’s Jayapal.'” You have to listen to the twitter clip, of course, to hear it: https://twitter.com/ErickFernandez/status/1288176610114441218?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1288176610114441218%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcnews.com%2Fnews%2Fasian-america%2Frep-jayapal-asks-her-name-be-properly-pronounced-after-colleague-n1235147 Rep. Lesko pronounced the name, well, as you’d expect according to English pronunciation rules: JAY (like bluejay) – uh – pal. Apparently it is actually pronounced JYE (like bye) – uh –... Read more

“Whiteness” — and the insolvability of multiculturalism

Last updated on: July 29, 2020 at 8:16 am By Jane the Actuary

My husband is German. Well, as of two years ago, he is also American, but he spent his childhood in Germany, came to the U.S. for grad school, and stayed. Which meant that he had to accustom himself to American culture — and at the same time, I had to learn that some of his quirks were really more a matter of his German culture not being entirely the same as American culture: it pains him to be late, for... Read more

How Would Biden Govern? Looking at the “Unity Tast Force Recommendations”

Last updated on: July 19, 2020 at 11:12 am By Jane the Actuary

Will Joe Biden govern as the moderate that he presented himself as? Or will he succumb to the temptation to try to be the “next FDR” to be remembered by posterity? Or is he, in fact, so frail that he has no control over anything at all, and it’s all a matter of who, behind the scenes, is controlling him? There’s a new document out, the Unity Task Force Recommendations, which is an extended policy platform and which should provide... Read more