Trumps handling of Coronavirus pandemic. This is what happens when you put the most self centered man in the most powerful office in the world.

From the New York Times:

There are now at least 82,174 cases of the new coronavirus disease, COVID-19, in the United States, according to worldometer, a website that tracks coronavirus cases. That’s higher than the case count in either Italy (which has 80,589 cases) or China (which has 81,285 cases).

And it is a sprawling, cacophonous democracy, where states set their own policies and President Trump has sent mixed messages about the scale of the danger and how to fight it, ensuring there was no coherent, unified response to a grave public health threat.

Dr. Jeffrey VanWingen MD has made a excellent video on how to take the proper precautions when dealing with groceries and take out food. If a lot of this seems like overkill - it isn’t. This is known as the paradox of preparation.

Hopefully we all look back on these videos and chuckle at our over reactions.

Kanishka Singh at Reuters is reporting that a test for the Coronavirus with a test which can give results in 45 minutes:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first rapid coronavirus diagnostic test, with a detection time of about 45 minutes, as the United States struggles to meet the demand for coronavirus testing.

The test’s developer, California-based molecular diagnostics company Cepheid, said on Saturday it had received an emergency use authorization from the FDA for the test, which will be used primarily in hospitals and emergency rooms. The company plans to begin shipping it to hospitals next week, it said.

The FDA confirmed its approval in a separate statement. It said the company intends to roll out the availability of its testing by March 30.

This is great new and will surely become a key turning point in our fight against Coronavirus.

Tomas Pueyo has published Coronavirus: The Hammer and the Dance. A highly recommended read.

First comes the Hammer — we use aggressive measures for weeks, giving our healthcare system time to ramp up & scientists time to research the hell out of this thing and for the world’s testing capability to get up to speed.

Strong coronavirus measures today should only last a few weeks, there shouldn’t be a big peak of infections afterwards, and it can all be done for a reasonable cost to society, saving millions of lives along the way. If we don’t take these measures, tens of millions will be infected, many will die, along with anybody else that requires intensive care, because the healthcare system will have collapsed.

And then we Dance.

If you hammer the coronavirus, within a few weeks you’ve controlled it and you’re in much better shape to address it. Now comes the longer-term effort to keep this virus contained until there’s a vaccine.

This is probably the single biggest, most important mistake people make when thinking about this stage: they think it will keep them home for months. This is not the case at all. In fact, it is likely that our lives will go back to close to normal.

Robert Reich is a former U.S. secretary of Labor and the author of many books, most recently Common Good. Here he is talking about socialism.

If you want to call it socialism - fine. I call it fair.

The Airlines for America on Monday claimed that all seven major U.S. passenger carriers would run out of money between July and December. Therefore they are asking $50 billion in assistance from the federal government. And the way they are asking for it is to divide it evenly between grants and low-interest loans.

But why do they even need this money? Airlines are coming off a historic 10 year boom. And the mergers have given Delta, United, American, and Southwest about 80 percent of the U.S. market. Delta’s profits for each of the past five years, back from 2019 to 2015, were $4.8 billion, $3.9 billion, $3.2 billion, $4.2 billion, and $4.5 billion. Thats $21.6 billion. And this when the oil prices are low with the economy was booming.

So where did all that money go? They spent all of that profit on themselves and their executives. According to Bloomberg the airlines spent 96 percent on cash buybacks and executive compensation.

Sure the Covid-19 threw everyone into a downward spiral. But it wasn’t as if this was not completely out of the blue. American Airlines actually reported in their December 31, 2018 Annual Report Form 10-K the following:

In particular, an outbreak of a contagious disease such as the Ebola virus, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, H1N1 influenza virus, avian flu, Zika virus or any other similar illness, if it were to become associated with air travel or persist for an extended period, could materially affect the airline industry and us by reducing revenues and adversely impacting our operations and passengers' travel behavior.

So instead of saving their pennies for such an event, the airline companies spent all of that cash to enrich themselves.

If any American family operated like that, we would say its financial mismanagement. When the American people ask for government assistance - we get told that we should have managed our money better.

But yea we get it. We need robust air infrastructure to grow and support our economy. But you have some gaul asking for free money (also known as grants) and a low interest loans. Needless to say, the airlines should not get to dictate terms.

This is how this bailout should be structured:

• There will be no grant given. You and your executives do not get to take the gains and we, the taxpayers, take the loss for your lack of financial mismanagement.
• You will be given a credit line to borrow against while you figure out how to stay afloat.
• You will continue to pay your taxes.
• You will have to pay back the taxpayers first over any other loans you have.
• In return for this emergency credit line, you will accept oversight from the government for the next 10 years.
• You will have to demonstrate that you have put forth sufficient safeguards so as not to repeat these events.

And the government should seriously consider breaking up the big four - but that is a post for another time.

While there has been a mad rush by people all over the country to buy hand sanitizers of all types, good old hand soap is known to work best against viruses such as the Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Here is an excellent thread on why:

Before the media sensationalizes this and the politicians amp this up even higher, lets stop for a minute and look at the facts so far. I am not saying we do not take immediate action to prevent further spread, but folks, its not the end of the wold.

In his book On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, Timothy Snyder looks at lessons from the collapse of various democracies across Europe over the course of the 20th century. A short read on the lessons to be learned and the what we can to protect our democracy.

The European history of the twentieth century shows us that societies can break, democracies can fall, ethics can collapse and ordinary men can find themselves standing over death pits with guns in their hands. We might be tempted to think that our democratic heritage automatically protects us from such threats. This is a misguided reflex. Americans today are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or Communism in the twentieth century. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience. Now is a good time to do so.

New poll has Sanders support at 31% nationally, up 9 points since December, the last time the poll asked about Democratic voters' preferences. Next closest contender has 19%.

Rachel Maddow on the resignation of the four prosecutors in the Roger Stone sentencing case.

There's no line that this President will not cross. Tell me if you can imagine one. Tell me the thing that would be bad for America but good for him - he wouldn't do it because it'd be bad for the country. What's beyond the pale for him?

Michael Render (aka Killer Mike) gave a rousing speech in support of Senator Bernie Sanders. This is the most powerful ad I have seen this election season. The Sanders champaign should blanket the airwaves with this.

Look to your neighbor and say:
Neighbor, the time is now.
There are more of us.
We're stronger.
We will wait no longer.
The time is now.
When you go to the that booth next year,
I need you to carry in that booth the memory of this room
Black.
White.
Straight.
Gay.
Men.
Female.
We are together.
We are united.
Our time is right now.
We will not wait four more years.
We will not wait 20 more years.
We will not wait two more Presidents.
We will not wait three more Presidents.
The time is now.
The time is not in the future.
The time is not some abstract time.
The time is not something that might be.
The time ain't something that could be.
The time ain't nothing that should be.
That would be.
It ain't tomorrow.
It ain't the day after.
It ain't coming next week.
The time is
Now!
The time is
Now!
The time is
Now!
The time is
Now!

Revolution indeed. The time is now!

No one has been to the moon since 1972, even though, back in 2004, then-President George W. Bush laid out several goals for NASA, including a "return to the moon by 2020 as the launching point for missions beyond."

Moonshot in 2024? Thas 4 years from now! No chance.

This isn’t the 1950s. We don’t just throw people atop rockets anymore. These are vehicles, aircraft. There is absolutely no way any of the current crop of space vehicles could be made ready for a trip to the moon anytime before 2024.

Going beyond low orbit, away from the sub-45min return time, is something we haven’t done in generations. The craft need to be tested, repeatedly. Each test flight then has to be analyzed before the next test flight. The turnaround for a single test will be many months, even a year. Getting all the bits and pieces together would then take many more years of integration work.

Look at the F-35. Look at the 737-max. These are complicated systems with layers of dependencies. Our society today simply does not accept the cowboy approach to safety that was the original moon race. The next moon landing will only happen after a decade-long deliberative, iterative, campaign requiring the support of many subsequent governments.

It is good to have a goal. But lets not get ahead of ourselves.

Anders Hejlsberg gives a talk on compiler construction. For those who don’t know, Hejlsberg is the one who gave us Turbo Pascal, Delphi, C# and most recently TypeScript. An excellent intro to modern compiler construction by one of the true masters of the field.

A mechanical keyboard is a keyboard built with high quality, typically spring activated, key switches. These key switches vary based on the keyboard’s application or user preference.

While some of the first widely sold keyboards such as IBM’s Model M in the 1980’s utilized mechanical switches, the 1990’s brought on a wave of inexpensive rubber dome keyboards that flooded the keyboard market. Rubber dome keyboards represent over 90% of keyboards in use today and provide an inexpensive but dissatisfying feel and typing experience.

Mechanical keyboards raise the bar in every way. A mechanical keyboard’s switches, framing, functionality, type print methods, key construction, PCB board, LED lighting (sharpness, brightness, adjustability), and a slew of other features are far superior compared to traditional rubber dome keyboards. Most of these improvements boil down to one thing - feel. Mechanical keyboards simply feel better than rubber dome keyboards.

Over the last few years, mechanical keyboards have become extremely popular. And as a developer I prefer the force feed back and the reassuring click and tactile feed back that they provide. However there is a huge variety of keyboards available with different layouts, key types and price points. How do you pick one that is right for you?

After trying many of mechanical keyboards, I can honestly recommend the Logitech G Pro Gaming keyboard. Don’t let the gaming part fool you. This is a serious keyboard that gives one of the best performances at a very reasonable price.

What is in the box

The Logitech G Pro Gaming keyboard comes with a just the essentials - the keyboard itself, a braided micro-USB cable and a small leaflet that tells you how to plug in the keyboard. Thats about it. You’ll either want to hold on to the box or invest in a separate case as one is not included.

The G Pro’s braided micro-USB cable deserves mention. With hooks on either side, it provides for a secure fit. This is good for securing the cable so you don’t accidentally remove it while in use. And the braided cable looks to be strong - no fraying or cutting problems here.

Design

The G Pro looks like what would happen if we were to take a standard full mechanical keyboard and simply chop off the numpad with some kind of high-tech paper cutter. It has a full selection of keys (minus the numpad), in addition to a key that controls the lighting and one that activates a Game Mode. The Game Mode is useless for programmers. It prevents you from clicking keys such as Alt-Tab or the Windows button, so that you won’t accidentally shut down your game midway. I wish this key was programmable to something else - but alas, you can’t.

That’s most of what there is to say about the keyboard’s looks. It’s small (14.2 x 6.0 x 1.4 inches), attractive and streamlined. Instead of employing discrete media controls, you can use the Fn key and the top row of Function buttons. Discrete controls would have been nice, but the advantage here is that they don’t clutter the keyboard.

Keys

The keyboard makes use of the company’s ubiquitous Romer-G mechanical switches. If you’ve never tried them before, they feel like Cherry MX Browns: tactile and fairly quiet. While Cherries are the standard to beat, Romer-Gs are supposed to be a hair faster, more responsive and more durable, so you could do much worse. Taken on their own merits, they’re pretty comfortable.

The Romer-G switches are great for typing. With the G Pro, I typed 115 words per minute with nine errors. Thats pretty good - at least for me.

Features

The Logitech G Pro runs on the Logitech Gaming Software, which is excellent. You can program the F1 through F12 keys, as well as adjust the backlighting and keep track of your stats (where your fingers spend the most time, how often you press buttons, and so forth).

There’s one onboard profile for the G Pro keyboard. This profile stores one lighting profile, which means that you can hook up the keyboard to any computer and have it retain any key colors that you care to program.

I’m not sure if this constitutes a bona fide “Big Deal,” but it’s a helpful feature, particularly because the keyboard’s default color wave can be somewhat distracting, and turning off lighting entirely makes the peripheral feel a little plain. My only complaint is that it took me a little while to figure out how to save the onboard profile. Hardly a deal breaker.

Performance

I put the G Pro through its paces, with both e-sports and narrative-driven titles, and it worked well in both cases. I had no trouble gliding around the battlefield as Mercy in Overwatch or commanding Jaina Proudmoore to encase enemies in ice in Heroes of the Storm. Likewise, the keyboard was competent and responsive when I was adventuring through the realm of Eorzea in Final Fantasy XIV or taking down bandit camps in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

The keyboard’s compact size is a boon. It was easy to play Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm with the keyboard straight in front of me, or off to the side at an angle; such maneuverability is sometimes necessary, depending on how much space you have at a tournament. Otherwise, it’s just as responsive as Logitech Orion keyboards, which have already proved their worth as e-sports peripherals.

Conclusion

The Logitech G Pro is a great keyboard. If you want a small mechanical keyboard that’s suitable for long stints of daily typing or coding and you don’t want to sacrifice comfort or performance, the Logitech G Pro is the one you should get. Just ignore the gaming keyboard part. And at $79 dollars - you aren’t going to get a better deal. The only downsides - and I am nitpicking here - is the lack of a case and being able to program the gaming button. Get yours here.

Adam Schiff’s summary argument in the Senate trial of Donald Trump’s impeachment. It sums up the state of the world today.

Looks like we have the successor to the iPhone SE - which in my opinion, was the greatest iPhone form factor ever made - scheduled for release in March. With the price expected to be at $399 - Apple is going to sell a ton of these. I just might be on the buy list for one of these.

The spec run-down form phoneArena.com:

If you’ve somehow missed the constant bombardment of iPhone 9 leaks, here’s a quick rundown of what we’re expecting right now.

Design-wise, the phone should look almost identical to the iPhone 8, with a 4.7-inch IPS LCD display and a home button with Touch ID. Unlike the iPhone 8, however, inside there will be Apple’s latest A13 system chip with all of its benchmark-topping power.

On the back, a single wide-angle camera will have to fill all the photography needs, just like in the good old days. If the iPhone 9 gets the lens from the iPhone 11 series alongside Night Mode, we doubt there will be anyone complaining.

The Washington Post has a great 20 question quiz to see which 2020 Democratic candidate you most closely align with.

Surprise - I am most agreeable to Elizabeth Warren with Bernie Sanders a close second. Which of these 2020 Democrats agrees with you most? Take the quiz here.

That moment when a fan film feels more like star wars than the huge Disney productions. You don’t need 1000s of starships or hundreds of Jedi. You just need big stories – saving a little boy can have more then enough drama for a movie.