Linkee-poo paved over paradise and put up a parking lot

So, speaking of things gravely ill and on ventilators, happy Earth Day.

"Ingram Content Group has created Bookfinity.com, a consumer-facing website to help booklovers choose the next 'great read' and make the "discovery process both fun and easy and in the process, aiming to expand book discoverability, bolster book sales and get more great books in the hands of readers.… When a user wants to purchase a book, buy buttons go to Bookshop, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Apple Books or Target." Most of those companies source a majority of their books from Ingram. (Grokked from Kelly Link)

"Fifty years after the first Earth Day helped spur activism over air and water pollution and disappearing plants and animals, significant improvements are undeniable. But monumental challenges remain… Black, brown and poor communities suffer disproportionately from ongoing contamination. Deforestation, habitat loss and overfishing have wreaked havoc on global biodiversity. And the existential threat of climate change looms larger than anything that came before."

"The strange thing is, though, that despite the uneasy connection between environmental news reports and apocalyptic films, climate change is mentioned in hardly any of them."

"The justices sparred in dueling opinions over the notion of 'paternalistic central planning,' a formulation Gorsuch used in his dissent and one that suggested his colleagues in the majority were practically communists or—almost as loathsome—socialists. Roberts, for his part, defended a centralized approach to environmental cleanups under federal law and evidently resented his colleague’s claims."

The year without a Santa Claus. "Yet another famous event has fallen victim to the coronavirus pandemic. On Tuesday, German officials announced that this year's Oktoberfest has been canceled."

"New autopsy results show two Californians died of coronavirus in early and mid-February -- up to three weeks before the previously known first US death from the virus." Ta-da!

"Some COVID-19 survivors will never recover completely from a condition known as post-intensive-care-unit syndrome, she says. It can produce long-term disabilities from muscle wasting, organ damage, brain damage, and PTSD… As a result, many COVID-19 survivors will need months or years of rehabilitation. But a few have been able to bounce back quickly."

"Health officials in Wisconsin said they have identified at least seven people who appear to have contracted the coronavirus from participating in the April 7 election, the first such cases following in-person voting that was held despite widespread concern about the public health risks." Yep. There's a lawsuit waiting to happen.

"Why, he asked, did tests say he still had the virus more than two months after he first contracted it?… The answer to that question is a mystery baffling doctors on the frontline of China’s battle against COVID-19, even as it has successfully slowed the spread of the coronavirus across the country." The tests are't accurate, and this is a tricky virus.

"Singapore’s coronavirus cases exceeded 10,000 on Wednesday as infections among migrant workers living in dormitories continued to surge."

"Even as states move ahead with plans to reopen their economies, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Tuesday that a second wave of the novel coronavirus will be far more dire because it is likely to coincide with the start of flu season." Given the move to reopen economies, I don't think 1) the second wave will wait until October and 2) the Southern hemisphere has been dealing with their own outbreaks, Summer is not going to "save" us. You need to get that out of your head. Why does Summer work on existing flu and colds? Well, it doesn't. But it does help with social distancing, and much of the time outdoors has some benefit from UV radiation. Mostly it's the social distancing and our herd immunity that helps break the chain of infection. There is no herd immunity to SARS-CoV2. But the main concern here, that we won't be through with COVID-19 by the time the seasonal flu starts hitting hard again. And that will really suck.

"A malaria drug widely touted by President Donald Trump for treating the new coronavirus showed no benefit in a large analysis of its use in U.S. veterans hospitals. There were more deaths among those given hydroxychloroquine versus standard care, researchers reported… The nationwide study was not a rigorous experiment. But with 368 patients, it’s the largest look so far of hydroxychloroquine with or without the antibiotic azithromycin for COVID-19, which has killed more than 171,000 people as of Tuesday." Oopsie. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)

"Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is defending his decision to secure half a million coronavirus test kits from South Korea instead of waiting for assistance from the federal government… The decision to lean on a foreign government has drawn a rebuke from President Trump, who said of Hogan, 'I think he needed to get a little knowledge, would've been helpful.'" Oh, Mr. "You're On Your Own" is now upset people are succeeding on their own.

"President Donald Trump says there are plenty of coronavirus tests available, while many governors raise alarms, saying they continue to run short even as states begin to lift their stay-at-home orders."

"The fastest test being used to diagnose people infected with the coronavirus appears to be the least accurate test… Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic tested 239 specimens known to contain the coronavirus using five of the most commonly used coronavirus tests, including the Abbott ID NOW… But the ID NOW only detected the virus in 85.2% of the samples, meaning it had a false-negative rate of 14.8 percent, according to Dr. Gary Procop, who heads COVID-19 testing at the Cleveland Clinic and led the study." Makes jazz hands. False negatives are deadly.

"Challenges in collecting data, a patchwork of state tracking systems and patients who die at home mean the true toll of Covid-19 on US healthcare workers is unknown." And let me state here, the people being hit the hardest are the environmental services crews. They have very little training to handle this, and to be frank, the procedures and policies for cleaning haven't been updated to account for coronavirus. Also, until recently, if we came down with symptoms we were not being tested.

"A state prison has become a hot spot of the COVID-19 outbreak in Ohio, with at least 1,828 confirmed cases among inmates — accounting for the majority of cases in Marion County, which leads Ohio in the reported infections. Ohio officials say an aggressive testing program is responsible for the large number." No, having a huge infection rate in the incarcerated population is responsible for the high number.

"According to the lawsuit, Barkai had expressed concerns to management about the lack of personal protective equipment and staffing shortages at the end of January or early February, more than a month before the first COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Michigan. She allegedly told hospital officials she would report potential violations to government agencies." Many hospitals have very stringent social media rules mostly to protect patients' private health information (covered under HIPAA). And it is quit possible making a video in the hospital is prohibited. But showing up hospital management for the incompetencies and in adequacies is one sure way to the unemployment line. So I guess now I need to explain some new terms I've been using. When I say "ta-da" or "jazz hands", I'm usually indicating something we've been talking about at the hospital between us workers.

"While Indonesia’s neighbors scrambled early this year to try to contain the spread of the coronavirus, the government of the world’s fourth most populous nation insisted that everything was fine." And now it's not. Again, if you think Summer will help this all go away, you're fooling yourselves.

"The tension in America between the national government and states' rights is as old as the republic itself. That tension is about to play out in a starkly political way and on a grand scale over the next several weeks, as states consider how to reopen their states in the midst of the novel coronavirus pandemic… President Trump seems to be itching for states to reopen — frankly, faster than his own administration's guidelines recommend." It always was going to be a political decision, but it would be best if it wasn't driven solely by political concerns.

"A panel of experts convened by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases recommends against doctors using a combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin for the treatment of COVID-19 patients because of potential toxicities." Sad trombones. Unfortunately the president cannot be sued for malpractice.

"The U.S. Senate has approved a measure to add roughly $484 billion in new funds to bolster the already record-breaking coronavirus response legislation."

"Banks handling the government's $349 billion loan program for small businesses made more than $10 billion in fees — even as tens of thousands of small businesses were shut out of the program, according to an analysis of financial records by NPR." Heinous fuckery.

"Lenders are pleading with lawmakers to save the Small Business Administration's 7(a) program, which was the government's primary lending plan for small firms before Congress created the Paycheck Protection Program to fight layoffs during the pandemic through forgivable loans. The much smaller and more traditional 7(a) program allows lenders to make government-backed loans to businesses that might otherwise be unable to get credit."

"Harvard University has pushed back against US President Donald Trump after he demanded it pay back nearly $9m (£7.3m) in coronavirus relief aid… The president said he was unhappy that the ultra-wealthy Ivy League college had received stimulus money… But the university said the funds would help students facing 'urgent financial needs' because of the pandemic."

"When the virus came here, it found a country with serious underlying conditions, and it exploited them ruthlessly. Chronic ills—a corrupt political class, a sclerotic bureaucracy, a heartless economy, a divided and distracted public—had gone untreated for years. We had learned to live, uncomfortably, with the symptoms. It took the scale and intimacy of a pandemic to expose their severity—to shock Americans with the recognition that we are in the high-risk category."

"In the January 2020 recording, NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre criticizes ongoing investigations by the New York and Washington, D.C., attorneys general, bemoaning 'the power of weaponized government.' And he told the NRA's board of directors, assembled for the group's winter meeting in January, that the organization has had to make $80 million in cuts to stay afloat." Thoughts and prayers. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)

"National security adviser Robert O'Brien has accused the World Health Organization of being 'a bit of a propaganda tool for the Chinese,' and said the White House is investigating whether money from China influenced the WHO's judgments during the coronavirus crisis." There aren't enough face-palms for this administration. Do conservatives realize that there are things such as records and search algorithms that can help you see just how much of a farce this is? This is just blame placing.

"The state of Missouri is suing China for that country's handling of the coronavirus outbreak. It's the first such lawsuit brought by a state, and it relies on an unusual interpretation of federal law." Those last 5 words basically means this is bullshit. Blame placing. "China, however, is protected by sovereign immunity." But hey, Missouri, let's not stop you from spending tax dollars on this idiocy.

"Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt’s attempt to ban abortions during the coronavirus pandemic cannot be enforced, a federal judge has ruled." You assholes made it time sensitive, now you've got to deal with it.

"The world is awash in oil, there’s little demand for it and we’re running out of places to put it… That in a nutshell explains this week’s strange and unprecedented action in the market for crude oil futures contracts, where traders essentially offered to pay someone else to deal with the oil they were due to have delivered next month."

"While the president and his advisers talk about "reopening" the economy, there are parts of it that never closed… In recent week there's been a squeeze on Charmin and other brands of toilet paper. De los Rios and his colleagues are making as much as they can, running the plant 24 hours a day, while also taking steps to protect the health of the 2,200 people who work there."

"But even though she had customers, Marietta was reluctantly forced to close the coffee shop just over a week ago. With the federal government now offering $600 a week on top of the state's unemployment benefits, she said her former employees can make more money staying home than they did on the job." Let me call bullshit right here. You can't get unemployment for leaving voluntarily, or for being fired for cause (like making sure you screw up enough to be fired). Yes, some states do weigh disagreements to the favor of the former employee, but not that much. Secondly, at least in Ohio, if you are offered a job, any job, and you refuse, you lose your unemployment benefit. Only people who never have been on unemployment would think this was a thing. This is someone looking for an excuse.

"Monikers have followed Martin Pichinson for his whole career, given his line of work. He winds down technology companies, selling off their assets in their final days. And so, in some corners, Pichinson has become known as the 'Undertaker of Silicon Valley.'… Now, once again, Pichinson says, his business is booming because of the coronavirus pandemic."

"A severe oversupply continued to hammer oil prices a day after they turned negative for the first time ever. That sign of crashing demand in the global economy sent stocks indexes down again (on Tuesday)."

"President Donald Trump said Tuesday his forthcoming executive order barring new immigration will apply only to people seeking green cards, last 60 days and won't affect workers entering the country on a temporary basis." Someone has got to mow the president's golf courses and clean his rooms. Also, remember that travel ban that was also supposed to be temporary? Still in place.

Never let a crisis go to waste. "Coronavirus-related slurs against Jews are promoted mainly by 'extreme rightists, ultra-conservative Christian circles, Islamists, and to a minor extent by the far-left,' according to an annual report on global anti-Semitism by the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University. This year's report, which notes an 18% increase in anti-Semitic violence in 2019, was issued on Monday, ahead of Israel's annual commemoration of victims of the Holocaust."

"A new Senate report undercuts claims by President Trump and his allies that Obama-era officials sought to undermine him while investigating Russia’s 2016 election meddling." You know, the Republican led Senate, found that the Mueller Report and the IG's reports were factual and correct, thereby implying the guilt of the administration. (Grokked from Michelle)