Thursday, April 02, 2020

Heaps of Philosophy

“There is a logic… that governs the totality of life on earth, and human history has been much more significantly shaped by that logic than by any of the stories we have told ourselves about who we are” — Justin E.H. Smith (Paris), who is NYC with symptoms of COVID, reflects on the pandemic


Thoughtful comment:
"A violent psychopath tells you there is an 'invisible enemy' that's going to kill you and your family and the only way to fight it is to give that psychopath absolute control over your life. And you do it without question. That's why violent psychopaths will always rise to power."

NATURAL & COMMON LAW TRIBUNAL ON UNLAWFUL GLOBAL CORONA LOCKDOWN Judges Seven UK & Alfred Webre


This Is Chance: The Story of the 1964 Alaska Earthquake and the Remarkable Woman Who Magnetized People into Falling Together as Their World Fell Apart


“What is safety, anyway? How can you predict where or when tragedy will occur? You can only learn to live with it and make the best of it when it happens.”


The fact remains that we’re all going to die. It’s just a question of whether or not we want to risk the low probability of dropping dead in the real world or kicking the bucket on our own terms. As I write this, twenty-two people have died in the United States from COVID-19. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration informs us that 102 people die from auto accidents each day. A death is a death is a death — as I believe the poet Gertrude Stein once wrote. I will never drive a car. I will never leave my home. I will live by taking no risks. Please join me in my noble quest.



Coronavirus latest totals

Confirmed cases
862,234
Deaths
42,404

Confirmed cases per day

Jan 22Feb 11Mar 02Mar 2220k40k60k

Sources: cumulative and daily figures are from Johns Hopkins University. For Australia, more up-to-date figures from state and territory health departments are used for the totals, but not for the chart. Australian data last updated 2020-04-01, Johns Hopkins University data last updated 2020-03-31. Recovered cases removed due to unreliable data

A helpful visualization about the value of social distancing and staying home — created by Siouxsie Wiles, a microbiologist and science communicator based in New Zealand

“The skeptics and pessimists need the optimists, just like the sick need the well. What happens when the whole planet falls into one category? It’s a disaster either way.” — Helena de Bres (Wellesley), a “non-joiner” and “anti-silver-lining-er” who likes the darkness of philosophy, comes to appreciate the light



Virtual Philosophy Colloquia

“I’m trying to create, in my own little word, a network of virtual colloquia and workshops for people stuck at home.” (more…)

Using Zoom for your online course? Beware “zoombombing” — such as “racist vitriol or pornographic content shared with the group by an unwelcome user” 


A crowdsourced list of schools that have instituted some kind of hiring freeze or pause — compiled by Karen Kelsky (via Malcolm Keating)


Finding the online teaching experience a bit clunky? — Roy Sorenson (Texas) has an alternative, though apparently it has its downsides, too

“The question is not whether to set priorities, but how to do so ethically and consistently, rather than basing decisions on individual institutions’ approaches or a clinician’s intuition in the heat of the moment” — Ezekiel Emanuel (Penn) and others on the allocation of medical resources during the pandemic

“In Africa, millions will starve if the global economy enters a protracted downturn” — Alex Broadbent and Benjamin Smart (Johannesburg) on the challenges of knowing what anti-pandemic measures to take

A new Dischord server aims to be a place where professional philosophers can share and receive academic support and advice — “We hope that through the channel, people from socio-economically different backgrounds will be able to seek help with setting up online resources for the very first time” (via Sahana Rajan)

Silicon Valley Mom Gets Seven Months for $450,000 College Scam Bloomberg. 

From 2005, still germane: Man released after 35 years in N.C. prison for stealing TV Deseret News. 
From 2019: Man who spent 36 years in prison for stealing $50 from a bakery is now set to be freed ABC