Mitch's Blog

YouTube is boosting ridiculous conspiracy theories about how 5G is the real cause of coronavirus. But it’s not because people are stupid – it’s because so many ridiculous conspiracies are real, says Cory Doctorow.

Youtube vs 5G arsonists

In real life, billionaires got rich lying about the safety of opiods, prosecutors and lawmakers covered up for pals like Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein, conspirators ignored evidence about Flint’s water. Scientific journals publish fake papers, doctors get paid off by pharma companies, and regulators are captured by business.

Compared with real life, antivaxxers, #PizzaGaters and even flat-Earthers don’t look so crazy.

Anna Merlan documents conspiracy theories in her 2019 book, “Republic of Lies,” Cory says, adding:

Merlan describes how conspiracists aren’t ignorant, but rather lavishly misinformed. UFO conspiracists can go chapter-and-verse on aerospace conspiracies, of which there are so. many. including, most recently, the 737 Max scandal.

Antivaxers know tons about opioid coverups and other medical malpractice. People who believe that the levees were dynamited during Katrina to drown black neighborhoods and spare white ones know all about when that actually happened in Tupelo, MS.

Susceptibility to conspiratorialism arises when someone is exposed to actual conspiracies, and trauma.

Illinois is reinstating use of barbarically cruel physical restraints against special needs kids - Cory Doctorow

Apple acquires Voysis for natural language recognition, presumably to beef up Siri - Bloomberg News/ITPro Today

Is Huawei an open source champion now? Huawei? The company joined the US-based open-source patent non-aggression group Open Invention Group, whose members cross-license Linux system patents to one another on a royalty-free basis. Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols has the story:

Huawei joins major US-based open-source patent protection consortium OIN

“I wouldn’t worry about even getting COVID-19 when COVID-20 is going to be released in a few months and it will support 5G.” - @joshua

Too soon?

Coronavirus cooking: Isolation is teaching us a better way to think about food. - Rebecca Onion at Slate

Isolation is making people less wasteful of food. Maybe.

Even today, we’re still many of us a lot better off than our grandparents.

Consider the Possibility That Trump Is Right On China

And consider that Trump might be right about globalization too.

Nadia Schadlow at The Atlantic:

At least as controversial as Trump’s critique of China is his emphasis on the importance of sovereignty and his insistence that strong sovereign states are the main agents of change. But states are the foundation of democratic governance and, fundamentally, of security. It is the citizens of states who vote and hold leaders accountable. And it is states that are the foundation of military, political, and economic power in alliances such as NATO, or organizations like the United Nations….

Contrary to what critics argue, “America first” does not mean “America alone.” That Trump might be introducing needed correctives to the hyper-globalization pursued by earlier administrations is generating serious cognitive dissonance in some quarters. And the reality is that only one organization in the entire world has as its sole responsibility the American people’s safety. That institution is the U.S. government. Whether led by Republicans or Democrats—or by Donald Trump or anyone else—it should always put the American people first.

I am shocked to find myself agreeing with this article.

Coronavirus hurts Silicon Valley caterers and event businesses

Salvador Rodriguez at CNBC:

Performers, food caterers, event planners, venue owners, models, DJs and others that rely on the tech industry are now staring at blank calendars with no idea of when they will be able to return to their livelihoods.

For much of the last 20 years I went to one or two industry events a month, mostly in San Francisco, the Bay Area and Las Vegas. I can’t imagine they’ll be among the first things to return when sheltering in place lifts.

Today is looking like it was not a great day to cut down on coffee. Tomorrow is not looking great for that either. 

I think we’ll go out to brunch today at DZ Akins, an excellent kosher-style deli just a few minutes drive way. It’s often crowded on Sunday; in a truly wonderful American fashion, this Jewish restaurant fills up when churches let out. But it’s worth waiting for a table.

The weather looks gray, but not rainy, which makes it a good day to visit Balboa Park and check out the museums. San Diego has some excellent museums, surprisingly so for a surfer/tourism town. Again, the park is usually crowded on Sunday and it’s hard to find parking, but worth the trouble.