Merv's Politically Incorrect Audio Blog

Discussion in 'SBAF Blogs' started by purr1n, Dec 26, 2018.

  1. Stuff Jones

    Stuff Jones Friend

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    I read your post as asking why can't a state that is home the worlds technology giants do a better job managing this problem. I showed that a city that is near to the worlds technology giants provides poor services, so perhaps your expectation was misplaced. In other words, maybe the problem is one of governance and not technology.
     
  2. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Ugh, none of the real high-tech companies are based in SF. They are fifty miles down south in Palo Alto, Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Santa Clara, San Jose, and Milpitas. Add Fremont for Tesla. These cities are very very different from San Francisco. SillyCon Valley <> San Francisco.

    Also San Francisco is not the capital of California. The state government is in Sacramento.
     
  3. Puma Cat

    Puma Cat Friend

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    Well said.
     
  4. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    Freedom @purr1n, freedom.

    Well, I can't really speak with regards to what is happening in CA, but I can only speak about the drama of the virus in FL.

    So ATM the numbers aren't looking good with regards to the deep increase of confirm cases in the state. More counties are requiring people to wear masks, but even that had become a giant partisan debate about it. County meetings has been pretty entertaining. I think the biggest issue on why the outbreak is bad in FL is from my perspective is the political debate about it.

    People like my father and others who are on the right side of things do believe that the virus is overrated and is an "inside" job to take down the President. Some people might think it is crazy, but that thought is still kind of common in my neck of the woods. When I had father's day dinner with my dad not too long ago a small city near Jacksonville, it was in a shopping/dining area and barely anyone was doing social distancing, wearing masks, being careful, etc. However, if you get triggered by someone wearing that certain Red Hat, there were tons of them around.

    Then you have those who are on the left side of things who believe the state government is trying to kill us all. The common thought is the state government is focusing more on the economy and trying to please the guy in the White House (which BTW Florida is now his official home) in order to host the convention in my city. Keep in mind that Jacksonville that is the biggest city landmass wise in the country that is controlled by the GOP & Duval County (aka Jacksonville) Constitutional officers are all GOP elected officials (which might be different from San Diego). Of course, there's rumor mill that they might cancel the convention in Jacksonville.

    Its gets more crazy, some of the cities/counties who are ordering these mandatory mask requirements are being sued by our local politicians/VIPs here and there. Some will roll their eyes about this, but there's still a group of the population in FL who believe that these mask orders are unconstitutional on the State/Federal level. In matter of fact, the GOP of FL is divided about this issue. Hell, our state's Supreme Court did confirmed that our governor has the right to impose on special rules/orders using his Emergency Powers. If he wanted to put a mandatory mask order for the whole state, he can. However, I don't believe he will do that due to most of the outbreaks are in population centers (FYI FL has tons of rural areas) and two it could be a political loss for him (selling on the idea previously that FL got this problem under control, and not the liberal states like CA and NY). Speaking of liberal states, that's a common troupe in FL Politics: Our politicians will keep saying move to FL, you pay less taxes and anything with a D next to your name makes you the Devil. Personally I think it is mostly people who are very very conditioned (like my father) to always vote for this one side only.

    People know from my previous posts that I can't stand both sides. Then again, knowing how this state works for two decades I just kind of shug about all of this. Our Governor doesn't want to look weak and defeated with his base, including his biggest supporter in the White House (who without his support he wouldn't won the FL GOP Gov Primary back in 2018). I'm also not surprised that he stated he isn't turning back on the reopening. Some stated that he is nuts, but at the end of the day he doesn't want to be defeated politically over this, including being in one of the biggest swing states that his political party needs in Nov.

    Oh well, shug it off I guess. People will cray cray no matter what. Florida Man here we come!
     
    Last edited: Jul 2, 2020
  5. Boops

    Boops Friend

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    LOL. This is the most wild statement I have ever seen posted in Marv's thread. We need a poll. Does anyone else do this?

    Totally agree. Binary open or closed is incredibly dumb and sad.
     
  6. dmckean44

    dmckean44 In a Sherwood S6040CP relationship

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    I can't take it with me to work, cameras are not allowed on base and I would lose my security clearance if they caught me with it. And I'm not taking my phone with me to the grocery store or target, what's the point?

    Edit: I would also think that among the vulnerable crown (those 65+), the number of folks that carry their phones with them everywhere is probably really low.
     
  7. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    It's the young people with the virus carrying their phones while visiting old people. Would be a good thing to track no? (FWIW, my parents who are near 80 take their iPhones everywhere). As human beings, we can't always be in a state of heightened vigilance. However, it would be nice for me or my family to know if I was near a COVID hotspot so I can be vigilant for a few days (self-monitor, take temperature, go to the doctor, self-isolate, etc.)

    State governments are already getting their hands on this data through third parties. (Facebook's attempts to prevent misuse of personal data isn't as strong as they would like you to think). It would take two days for high-tech to come up with a solution for normal people.

    Little things help a lot. The idea is the chip down that attack rate so we can have our freedom back.
     
    Last edited: Jul 2, 2020
  8. Boops

    Boops Friend

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    You ruined the fun by providing a completely rational explanation. BOOOO!
     
  9. winders

    winders boomer

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    Sorry, but I don't want the Government to have the authority to track where I go and who I see without my and the people I see direct and clear permission. Nope. No thank you.

    The idea was to flatten the curve....not prevent everyone from getting sick. We need to protect the vulnerable for sure. That means isolating them...not everyone else.
     
  10. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Dude, the government can already track you. Hell, I can probably track your whereabouts. Google, Facebook, or Apple most certainly can. The idea is how to anonymize this information, with proper oversight, so everyone can have their freedom back, so people can have their jobs, so people can take measures to avoid getting sick or others sick.

    As to flattening the curve, these extra measures are part of what we are talking about because this is what we have NOW:
    upload_2020-7-2_12-59-33.png
     
    Last edited: Jul 2, 2020
  11. Kernel Kurtz

    Kernel Kurtz Friend

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    You already know the best security is layered. In this case testing of both symptomatic and random people, masks, social distancing with limited crowding, contact tracing, and if an app can help - the more layers the better, assuming they have at least some privacy protection. Till we find a treatment or vaccine that is the best security on offer.

    Every layer seems to meet with opposition though, and even if they find a vaccine (assuming it's even possible to create immunity that lasts for a while), it too will be hampered by a not insignificant number of people who simply won't get it.

    Sadly what should ideally be done and what reality allows are far from the same. Also much the same as at work.
     
  12. fastfwd

    fastfwd Friend

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    High-tech already did: The Apple/Google Exposure Notification API, which enables the development of contact-tracing apps that cannot violate users' privacy, has been available since May.

    We'd have widespread availability of the technology if the CDC, Google, and Apple had gotten together to write an app and include it in the next iOS and Android updates. But for mostly political reasons, that couldn't possibly have happened. So instead, individual states have to write their own apps, without any guidance or assistance from the federal government, and try to convince their citizens to install them.

    The vast majority of states are not doing that. The reasons are various: Some health departments want more private information than the API gives them (e.g., they want location data, which the API does not collect), some states claim that contact tracing isn't effective (or that only manual tracing is), and I'm sure that in some states the reasons are political. Plus, apps aren't trivial to write, and people have to want to install them, and the federal government is not supporting or even encouraging any of the work.

    Three or four states are creating apps anyway. But the apps can't really start to provide useful information until a significant fraction of the population is using them, and so far the states' efforts to get their apps onto phones are falling far short of what's needed -- the apps have been downloaded by only a single-digit percentage of the population.

    The exercise has been lucrative for a handful of contracted app developers, though, so it's not all bad news.
     
    Last edited: Jul 3, 2020
  13. Boops

    Boops Friend

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    If you think that chart above is bad, take a look at the slope of that line when you take out data from NY State:

    [​IMG]
     
  14. Kernel Kurtz

    Kernel Kurtz Friend

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    Unfortunately many will think that means NY is now immune and that is something they themselves should strive for.
     
  15. penguins

    penguins Friend, formerly known as fp627

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    Taiwan numba wan!!!!





    In all seriousness now, I saw a Milton Friedman video the other day talking about Japan's inflation and economy screwing up in the entire decade of the 70's. He mentions that they were willing to suck it up for a while "taking the medicine". He then mentions how Americans never seem to be able to ride out the tough bits and always seems to give up half way when "takeingthe medicine" for big important things - which gets us in trouble... IDK why this video of all videos came to mind but that's beside the point.
     
    Last edited: Jul 2, 2020
  16. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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  17. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Granma always said "Americans don't know how to eat bitter".

    Anyway, seriously scratching my head why there are not more voluntary efforts from the people, developers, hacktivists, etc. Seems folks want to rage against the machine, but in a rather stupid way. Maybe it's because we really aren't so "free" after all. That is free to own our own data, and as such also truly free to willingly participate towards a solution. We are basically peons and digital serfs to the tech companies. And politically, things are so polarized that it's lose-lose. Newsom or Garcetti can tell folks they cannot go to temple or see family and friends this weekend while tacitly approving of gathering for mass protests where folks are yelling and chanting.
     
  18. TheIceman93

    TheIceman93 El pato-zorro

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    The good news is that the death rate is still dropping at a promising rate. Trying to stay hopeful.
     
  19. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I think it takes about 4-8 weeks for people to die after getting infected. Also, give the young 'uns an extra week or two to visit their parents or grandparents. ICUs are already starting to fill up. I think Imperial County may be screwed. It's next to AZ and has a lot of farm labor. Those "Mexicans" on the farm picking the lettuce for us never shutdown, lots getting sick now. I remember driving down to Point Mogu a month ago and seeing all the farm workers working the field, tightly packed together - was kind of a shock - but we need to eat.
     
    Last edited: Jul 2, 2020
  20. penguins

    penguins Friend, formerly known as fp627

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    You're absolutely right though - why can't the US have just executed better as Taiwan, HK, Korea, Japan etc etc all did... Masks not mandatory at a government level in many places, don't have 100% mask usage, didn't close their economies, etc... lower rates... what??????

    There was an article I read about this too. People tried to say it's due to different social norms.... but upon closer examination of evidence, that didn't pass muster. People then tried to say it's b/c they used technology better to track people but this is an invasion of privacy... until they realized that wasn't it either... The article then goes on to say it was pretty much just sloppy execution and idiocy ruined it for the US. Having been to most or all of the above places and watching/reading the local news in these places out of curiosity to see what they are doing w/ regards to covid... I'm actually somewhat surprised b/c there are lots of idiots in these places too (same with places I've been in US, EU, etc.).

    If I were an angry dictator with China level monitoring/surveillance abilities, I'd know who all of the people who screwed things up are and withhold the vaccine from them for however long it took the vaccine to develop as a repayment for crashing the entire country into the ditch it's in... while rubbing it in their faces that it's being withheld b/c they are too dumb to waste resources on... but I'm not actually that angry or petty... I'm only petty enough to put them at the back of the line when the vaccine is ready.
     
    Last edited: Jul 2, 2020

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