Charles Johnson inadvertently follows up on my post, with a shot from (I think) Palos Verdes. Though he doesn’t comment about it, note the brown haze on the otherwise blue horizon. That means that the Santa Anas continue.
Category Archives: General
WTF! Part II
OK, I got the computer fixed (at least for now), but now I have a question for all the DirecTV Tivo mavens out there. This is something that has been driving me nuts ever since I got the farging thing.
Why does it fill up my hard drive with programs that I’ve zero interest in, have never watched, have never evinced any interest in watching? More to the immediate point, why, when I’m watching Fox News, and have a half-hour of it in the can, and am waiting for Brit Hume to come on, and can zap commercials, does it randomly decide that I’d rather watch Seinfeld, and switch to that channel, thus losing everything on the hard drive from Fox News, so that when I switch back in frustration, I’ve lost the first half hour?
Smog At The Beach
I’m flying back to Florida tomorrow, and it will be good to be home with Patricia, but I thought I’d take a little walk in my old neighborhood this afternoon. If you’re interested, click for more, but a warning that there are several pictures, for those limited in bandwidth…
Tressel’s Job Is Safe For Another Year
In fact, he’s accomplished something that John Cooper never could. He owns Lloyd Carr:
Ohio State (9-2, 7-1) closed the regular season with six straight wins and gave coach Jim Tressel his fourth win in five games against Michigan (7-4, 5-3).
And the game went pretty much the way the season did for Michigan. Good enough defense to win, and a promising offense that only occasionally lived up to the promises. Still, Michigan was only four scores away from an undefeated season. They’re probably the best four-loss team in the country, and they did better than I thought they would. Maybe they’ll get a good bowl matchup.
Tressel’s Job Is Safe For Another Year
In fact, he’s accomplished something that John Cooper never could. He owns Lloyd Carr:
Ohio State (9-2, 7-1) closed the regular season with six straight wins and gave coach Jim Tressel his fourth win in five games against Michigan (7-4, 5-3).
And the game went pretty much the way the season did for Michigan. Good enough defense to win, and a promising offense that only occasionally lived up to the promises. Still, Michigan was only four scores away from an undefeated season. They’re probably the best four-loss team in the country, and they did better than I thought they would. Maybe they’ll get a good bowl matchup.
Tressel’s Job Is Safe For Another Year
In fact, he’s accomplished something that John Cooper never could. He owns Lloyd Carr:
Ohio State (9-2, 7-1) closed the regular season with six straight wins and gave coach Jim Tressel his fourth win in five games against Michigan (7-4, 5-3).
And the game went pretty much the way the season did for Michigan. Good enough defense to win, and a promising offense that only occasionally lived up to the promises. Still, Michigan was only four scores away from an undefeated season. They’re probably the best four-loss team in the country, and they did better than I thought they would. Maybe they’ll get a good bowl matchup.
Fast Cheap Flu Vaccine
If H5N1 is so lethal, it might be a justifiable move on utilitarian grounds to manufacture and release H5N2 or something so people with partial immunity to the most common variants could obtain partial immunity to H5N1. That would probably not be condoned because the idea of killing tens of thousands to innoculate and thereby protect millions who would otherwise die in an H5N1 pandemic is morally and politically dead on arrival (pun intended). If we can’t stomach 2,000 dead in Iraq, there are many high utility strategies that are not options. This one can be pursued, however, by a determined minority.
Bad News On The Flu Front
Avian flu has spread to pigs in China. This is a common step on the way for it to become a human strain.
Remember The Doughboys
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
Note that the number of WW I vets has dwindled down to a few dozen. Barring some miracle medical breakthroughs, in another decade they will all lie (at least metaphorically) in Flanders fields. Honor today the few who are still with us, and their compatriots who no longer are. And thank, silently or otherwise, those in harm’s way today overseas.
[Update a few minutes later]
Ralph Kinney Bennett has some further thoughts.
By the way, I’ll be keeping this post at the top all day, so if you come back and still see it, scroll down past it–there may be new posts below.
Hoarding Tamiflu
Roche announced today that it is stopping US wholesale shipments of Tamiflu to prevent “hoarding”. Hoarding is exactly what they are doing. The move will shock wholesalers while people buying in advance of avian flu like me are shocking some retailers. Distributers are the last link in the chain. As they process this news, all retailers will begin to restrict access to Tamiflu. Rationing at a below market price results in the drug not going to people who value it most.
Higher prices put Tamiflu out of range of the bulk of the market. The only way they benefit from the higher prices is indirectly through the higher tax revenues from higher profits in the supply chain or increasingly as shareholders. Rationing benefits people who get the ration cards or whatever. There is an ubounded loss in efficiency when some people who want the drug are turned away because they have money, but do not qualify for a ration. An optimal policy might be a tax on emergency use that is distributed to everyone in the country equally. Don’t expect politicians to adopt that one.
Doctors, pharmacists and drug companies clearly know best exactly how much to provide becaue they are so good at economics. And they are prescribing, dispensing and producing Tamiflu for the good of the country. Perhaps I know better how many doctors, pharmacists and drug companies the country should have. I think there should be a medallion system like taxis.
Previous posts: Spanish Flu Published, Flu Update