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Marc's Musings

Quarantine: Separation of suspected patients for evaluation. Also; prophylactic separation.

Isolation: Separation of confirmed patients to prevent transmission

The "experts" inciting panic by asserting large numbers of undiagnosed CoV patients are the same "experts" who used to treat tuberculosis by removing ribs and exposing lungs to the air.

As expected, Bernie got Biden'd in Michigan. Here's just one plank of his platform, paraphrased:

Eliminate all fossil-fuel power generation and convert all public and private transportation to electric, then nationalize the power grid.

(Ok, maybe it's more than one plank.)

Subsequently, the logistics and economy of the entire nation would be dependent upon the same people who deliver the mail.

Sorry, Bernie. Democrats are not Soviets.

Trump's fresh-from-the-wrapper Chief of Staff has quarantined himself, to which John Kelly commented, "Now why didn't I think of that?"

When Bernie gets his hat handed to him in the Michigan primary tomorrow, consider this: Bernie is not, never has been, and never will be a Democrat.

He switches his registration for presidential elections and masquerades as a Democrat. While Bernie may have substantial support from the progressive wing of the Democrat party his platform conflicts with the DNC platform and, as Super Tuesday revealed, the majority of Democrat voters.

Sorry, Bernie. Democrats are not communists.

Learn more about Bernie's politics here (must be a registered user). 

A circle has 360 degrees because the Egyptians miscounted the number of days in a year.

Imagine how fun math would be if there were 365.25636 degrees in a circle.

Popular support for Bernie's Medicare-for-All program is being bolstered by a number of studies that suggest it would be cheaper than private insurance because the government can do it better and cheaper than the private sector.

Listed below are all of the things the government does better and cheaper than the private sector:

The Free Stuff Sweepstakes has lost all entertainment value as it has devolved from a bunch of rich people promising to give you all of the other rich people's money to a bunch of rich people accusing the other rich people of not being good stewards of other rich people's money.

At this point, I'm wondering what was so bad about monarchies.

The Harvey Weinstein trial is novel because it is based on the testimony of witnesses who had a subsequent relationship with the accused.

Prosecutors declining to try rape cases where a legitimate relationship is present is like refusing to try a shoplifting case because the accused had actually paid for something from the store.

Illinois wants to become the third state to criminalize pumping your own gas (OR, NJ).

"Equality" is among the reasons listed for the change; low-income people cannot afford gasoline pumped by stations with attendants and are forced to pump their own gas. Under the proposed bill, low income people would be forced to buy gas they cannot afford so they can be equal.

Stop voting, people. It only makes things worse.

Glutamate is an amino acid and neurotransmitter that has been monitored in action for the first time.

A well-known salt of glutamate is monosodium glutamate (MSG). It breaks down into sodium and glutamate ions during digestion.

MSG attained urban legend status after a letter submitted to the New England Journal of Medicine ascribed various symptoms to MSG and was published as "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome". 

With little fanfare and less justification, Trump resurrected the USAF Space Command last year.

Zero originality points for the logo design and a ten point penalty for the nerd pandering.

"The world’s richest 2,153 people controlled more money than the poorest 4.6 billion combined"

Capitalism may provide more upward mobility than other systems, but that doesn't mean we should avert our eyes from the inevitable imbalances.  

Anyone who has played Monopoly or real-time strategy games knows that eventually the power players control the board.

Someone told me “I watch all of the news channels to make sure I get all of the news.”

If you are getting your news from television (or their online appendages), you're not getting news, but ‘news-like product’ to make you believe whatever one of the six corporations who control the major news outlets want you to believe.

The news is dead. Long live the narrative.

 

Hollywood spent $175M on a film that was so bad it could only be improved by adding a scene of a man extracting bagpipes from a dragon's nether regions, and even that strategic maneuver only netted $30M opening weekend and likely not much more.

It's a far cry from the days of Home Alone, hauling $162M on a $15M budget or Dirty Dancing grabbing $62M on a $10M budget.

Every year, Hollywood has to relearn that money, technology, and potty humor does not a good movie make.

No fewer than 119 billionaires and their private jets converge on Davos, Switzerland next week for the World Economic Forum where they will bandy topics such as “Balancing Domestic and Global Inequality” and “Breaking Legal Barriers to Equality.”

It's just as well they're rich, otherwise they could not afford the $43 hot dogs.