rusbots and xibots

[George Jung]

I saw this in the Times - perhaps 'someone' can C/P some of the important parts?

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...its-covid.html

It's an extrapolation, based on obituaries of eminent citizens from several chinese Universities - showing the dramatic jump, after Covid restrictions were removed. Also talks about how the funeral homes and crematoriums were overwhelmed. One more rebuttal of 'someone's' info from china.

[Chip-skiff]

"We examined the obituaries published over the past four years by the state-backed Chinese Academy of Engineering and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The academies’ members, who are drawn from research institutions across the country, help shape national policy and steer research priorities. The engineering academy currently has about 900 members, and the science academy about 800, according to their websites.

Obituaries published by the two state-backed institutions




The obituaries did not specify the scholars’ causes of death beyond “illness,” and the academies did not answer requests for more specifics. But the spike late last year coincided with the coronavirus’s rapid spread across the country.

Infections had already begun rising in the fall, despite China’s strict “zero Covid” policy of lockdowns and mass testing. Then, after the government suddenly abandoned the policy in early December, amid a flailing economy and protests in multiple cities, cases soared."

[Nicholas Carey]

"We examined the obituaries published over the past four years by the state-backed Chinese Academy of Engineering and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The academies’ members, who are drawn from research institutions across the country, help shape national policy and steer research priorities. The engineering academy currently has about 900 members, and the science academy about 800, according to their websites.

Obituaries published by the two state-backed institutions




The obituaries did not specify the scholars’ causes of death beyond “illness,” and the academies did not answer requests for more specifics. But the spike late last year coincided with the coronavirus’s rapid spread across the country.

Infections had already begun rising in the fall, despite China’s strict “zero Covid” policy of lockdowns and mass testing. Then, after the government suddenly abandoned the policy in early December, amid a flailing economy and protests in multiple cities, cases soared."

"Dang!", I believe is the technical term.

[George.]

That graph looks exactly like what any epidemiologist would have predicted.

Keep in mind that that is for a sample of mostly urban people. As the omicron wave reaches rural areas after the lunar new year superspreader events, they will have their own spike in deaths. For China as a whole deaths should peak around the end of February

[P.I. Stazzer-Newt]

Have you met John Gall's "Coefficient of fiction"

Coefficient of Fiction: R(0)/R(s), where: set
R(0) = the amount of reality that fails to the relevant people.
R(s) = the total amount of reality input to the system.
A Coefficient of Fiction above 0.99 is possible in certain delusional systems where reality is cut off entirely.

[Keith Wilson]

Good thing it's now bunny year, another bottom of the birdcage piece from the new york times goody goody. Some people aged 91, 93, 86 from a couple of universities died during the past year, oooh, must be the end of the world. I'm done arguing with fundamentalists about intelligent design -- "it must be this way becasue we can't imagine anything else !" -- y'all go ahead and pat each other on the ass, china is failing, economy crashed (only 3% growth instead of the 5% goal), corpses piled six deep in the street, morgues overflowing, hospitals crammed to the ceiling (good thing the corpses were on holiday saturday when I went over to grab the x-ray), everybody dead, factories failing left and right, oppressed citizens up in arms, the ruling communist party must fall any moment !

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr Davies has submitted a very credible entry to the 'world's largest strawman' contest. Nicely done!

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

What is with those shoes?

I asked Margaret; six inch heels are a requirement for almost all pageants, and yes, she did learn to walk in them. Beyond the obvious point that heels change a woman’s gait and the shape of her legs, the reasons for the six inch ones are unclear other than obviously adding height. She enjoyed doing it; her friends all turned out to support her, and she doesn’t absolutely rule out having another go sometime.

[CWSmith]

Keith, that may be the best thing I've seen in this entire thread! That is very cool!

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr Davies has submitted a very credible entry to the 'world's largest strawman' contest. Nicely done!

[George Jung]

Might've 'nicked' a nerve on HRD.

Good.

[Keith Wilson]

Keith, that may be the best thing I've seen in this entire thread! That is very cool!

There's apparently a show in Japan with huge straw figures every year; fun with leftover rice straw after the harvest. Here's a link.

[Canoeyawl]

I heard those Rhino horns have incredible credulity in China

Something to do with impotence

[CWSmith]

I heard those Rhino horns have incredible credulity in China

Something to do with impotence

And pangolin scales - an endangered species due in large part to the Chinese medicine trade.

[George.]

And jaguar teeth and tiger bones and bear bile and dried seahorses and...