March 5th, 2020

Hey there America...

The virus is coming your way...and my Seattle friends are already in the grips.  Don't freak and don't dismiss it either.   John Oliver had a good piece on it this week (which you probabaly already saw cause the John Oliver stuff is pretty much essential viewing and your taste in what you intake is obviously excellent)

We've been living with the spectre of this thing here for a month now and cannot tout how amazing the Taiwanese government and people have been in reaction to this.  Closest to ground zero with a huge amount of mainland visitors rolling through daily (I read there are 60,000 flights and 10 million passengers annually), they had some cases early and stopped it cold.  It has been inching up and as with everywhere else, expect it will take over at some point.  Taiwan got burned bad with SARS and so were prepared and resolute in enacting their plans.  It helps that they have a population that is compliant and for the most part, no one freaked.  They line up for their weekly mask allotment with the patience of Job.  There is/has been some hording going on but as you are already seeing with the Costco's in the States, that is a default human characteristic. 

The Taiwan government itself is a big middle finger to China too.  The mainland tried to sway a recent election against the DDP and it backfired spectacularly with the DDP getting the biggest ever landslide in their short history when they were supposed to lose and many speculate it was because of that interference is what caused the victory.  The Chinese send their jets around the island regularly to provoke the Taiwanese and the government here stays calm and gently pokes the Chinese as they cannot compete on the lager stage.  Have mentioned just how fucked the Chinese are by preventing Taiwan from participating in the WHO, and at this time that can cause death.  This article spells out the issue with journalistic integrity if you want the wonky version

The WHO coined the term COVID-19 for the virus as they don't want to call it by a name associated with a specific country or region as it would stigmatize that place...like the Spanish Flu.  Since they aren't in WHO, the Taiwanese still call it the Wuhan pneumonia and today issued this clever little chart

Wise words from the adorable Shiba Inu and suck on it China.  If I ever try to go to that dump I assume that they will read this space and I will never be allowed a visa.  Darn.  SUCK ON IT CHINA!

I am fascinated to watch and truly worry about how America is going to react if it really hits the fan.  Suspect with all the liberty going on everyone feels entitled to that there is gonna be a segment of the folks that will not self-quarantine.  Also...the guns.  Also, the fucking idiot in charge.  Doomsday preppers should be pretty happy though.

Probably the best gag I've seen about it is the personal ad stating, Man with coronavirus seeking woman with Lyme disease.  Hard to work into conversation, but there ya go.

Had a bunch of stuff to share but ran outta time this week.  There won't be an entry next Friday either as I'm going on a secret mission and will share the details of that next time.  Until then, cough into your elbow and then wash your elbow.