March 2020
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New books each month is on hold for awhile
I'm working from home, and don't presently have regular access to my office, where new books are delivered. I'll hopefully be able to catch up by summer.
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“Capitalism, Social Democracy and Socialism: Which is Right for America?”: the debate video is now online
Here. (I noted previously that the texts of the opening statements were available here.) I haven't watched the video, but I do recall one mistake I made: I should not have seemed to agree with Professor Caplan that social security should be means-tested. Social security is a social insurance scheme, everyone contributes, and everyone collects…
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More evidence that social distancing is working: Kinsa thermometers recording fewer fevers
The NYT ran a story on this today, and the Kinsa map is here. From the NYT story: The company, Kinsa Health, which produces internet-connected thermometers, first created a national map of fever levels on March 22 and was able to spot the trend within a day. Since then, data from the health departments of…
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Best introductory texts in the history of early modern philosophy (or to particular figures in early modern philosophy)?
MOVING TO FRONT FROM MARCH 5, RIGHT BEFORE CORONAVIRUS STUFF OVERWHELMED US ALL–THIS DESERVES MORE COMMENTS Continuing with our new series about the best introductory texts in various areas of philosophy, I now invite readers to name what they think are the best introductory texts to the history fo early modern philosophy (either through Kant…
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Have any universities discussed plans for next fall?
I broached this topic a couple of weeks ago, but I'm wondering whether any readers have heard about any contingency plans or discussions at their institutions related to the question of, "What happens in the fall?" No need to use your name, but please include a valid e-mail address in case I need to follow…
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I am guessing John Ioannidas will come to regret his essay from last week
Professor Ioannidas, a Stanford epidemiologist and statistician (most famous for first calling attention to the problem with the standard use of p-values in medical research), obviously has a contrarian instinct, but sometimes those instincts are dangerous. I had been ignoring this piece, which seemed obviously unsound even to a layperson like me, but since it…
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New “Emergency Relief Fund” for law students, funded by Access Lex, administered by law schools (Michael Simkovic)
The Access Lex Institute is providing $5 million in total to fund an emergency relief fund for students at each of 200 law schools. Each law school will receive $25,000. Law schools will be responsible for administering the funds to assist students in need. The press release describes the purpose of the funds as follows:…
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Support doctors and nurses (and really all of us)
Everyone should share and sign this. Now! UPDATE: My apologies: as Peter Klein pointed out to me, the petition is only seeking signatures from medical and legal professionals. I'm sorry to those who wasted time trying to sign. I failed to scroll through the list of professions, and so didn't realize the limitation.
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“Don’t panic wash your hands a lot never leave your home don’t touch your face”
Helpful tips for surviving the pandemic (from a humorist at The New Yorker). (Thanks to Jerry Dworkin for the pointer.)
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As usual, religious zealots are a threat to human well-being
Unbelievable. And some of these morons think that the First Amendment protects their right to endanger public health: it doesn't. UPDATE: Good news, one of the pastors breaking the law has been arrested. A few civil suits down the line for reckless indifference to human life would be appropriate too!
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National survey of those charged with preventing infections in healthcare facilities
Here, with an article summarizing the findings here. An excerpt from the latter: Overall, 1140 (9.6%) infection preventionists responded. Almost 70% of respondents represented a healthcare system rather than a single facility, and facilities ranged from hospitals (42.7%) to ambulatory care (17.4%) and dialysis (2.7%). The centers, from all 50 states and Washington DC, ranged…
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Our future has arrived in Germany…
…which will begin testing people and issuing "immunity certificates" to those who have antibodies for the new coronavirus.
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Some advice for teaching philosophy on-line…
…from Dr. Matt Deaton, an experienced on-line philosophy teacher.
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The issue isn’t the *total* number of cases, it’s the per capita rate of confirmed cases
That's one takeaway from the first chart in this NYT story: Metro area Population cases Per thousand Wuhan, China 11.1 mil. 50,821 4.59 Lombardy region, Italy 10 mil. 34,889 3.48 New York 20 mil. 43,016 2.15 Albany, Ga. 153,000 206 1.35 New Orleans 1.3 mil. 1,674 1.32 Seattle 3.9 mil. 2,543 0.65 Bridgeport metro, Conn.…
Giovanni Molteni Tagliabue (Italy) Rationalized and Extended Democracy – The REDemo Project. Foreword by Gilberto Corbellini. Firenze University Press 2023.…