The Wages of Tunnel Vision is Ignorance

 

cicada corpse "mulch"

Many of us who live in the belly of the Midwest – Indiana and Ohio, to be exact – are well aware of the emergence of Brood X of the 17-year cicadas. Mercy, are we aware! In some parts of town, the dead insects are so thick on the ground under the larger trees that the accumulated bodies look like brown mulch. I kid you not... and yet the buzzy little guys aren't everywhere: I was in a part of town just yesterday where nary a buzz or whirr was to be heard, and I wasn't constantly dive-bombed by bugs the size of a wine-bottle cork.

Ain't nature great?! Whatever the case, apparently some people don't believe that there's a "cicada emergence" happening right now. Yup, some bobble-head wrote to the local newspaper and opined, 

"Been hearing about the Cicadas brood for the last 60 days. So far — nada. Kind of like our weather reports. Lots of hype, then nothing."

So this man (or woman; no one ever said all idiots are male) doesn't think the cicada emergence is real because he hasn't seen any. Well, he's welcome to visit my local park...

That failure of logic puts me in mind of a certain segment of our population who think that what they can't see doesn't exist. You know exactly who I'm talking about: the moron who declaims that there's no such thing as "global warming" because it was so damned cold here last week. The fact that people in the know discuss global climate change instead of global warming notwithstanding, let's take a look at just how tiny the guy's window on the world really is. We'll use the state of Indiana for an example. 

Indiana has a total area of 36,418 square miles. In terms of the rest of the world, that's

• 1.17% of the surface area of the "lower 48"
• 0.38% of the surface area of North America
• 0.064% of Earth's land surface area
• 0.018% of Earth's total surface area.

And this guy thinks that because it was cold in his back yard in February, that the rest of the globe was also cold?

Will someone please buy this jackass a clue?

copyright © 2020-2021 scmrak

And now for something completely dumb...

A Facebook acquaintance posted the meme shown below on January 29th, some nine days after the Biden administration took over the federal government. Based on what he wrote, he reposted it from someone who had copied it (presumably from Newsmax or OAN) on January 25th. Either that, or he doesn't realize that from January 20th to January 29th is not "less than a week." 

The name of the guilty has been removed to... hell, I dunno, I should have probably left it there. But enough of that; let's take a look at the thought (or lack thereof) behind the meme.

Apparently the right is planning to blame the new administration for everything that has happened since 12:01 on January 20th, 2021. But wait: let's take a look at those numbers. What are they, anyway? Well, some bubble-brain is apparently tallying the number of COVID deaths every day and says that Biden's to blame for every one that occurred after he took office. That's a little weird, given that the same people didn't blame Donald Trump for a single COVID death, but never mind that little inconsistency. 

When Logic Fails, Fall Back on Insults

 

Unlike most people, I still subscribe to a local newspaper... the Indianapolis Star, if you must know. I'm not absolutely certain, but I think the only reason we still get a physical subscription is because I live with a a Labrador Retriever who loves collecting the paper from the end of the driveway and depositing it in my hand.

The Star prints a daily column called "Let It Out" in which locals say what's on their minds. Unfortunately, a lot of them don't seem to have very much room, as is demonstrated by the comment reproduced above. Just how clueless are these people, anyway?

Live in a Bubble? Get a Life

I was driving the old truck today so when trad jazz started coming out of my radio speakers, it was find another station or listen to the tire noise. I chose option one, ending up on an FM station broadcasting something I later learned was called "The Tony Katz Show." I was bored and the guy subbing for Katz had just started babbling about what he gave the kids for Christmas (he apparently bought them hoverboards), so I let it keep on playing: it was that, Country and Western, or Christian radio. 

The Choking Doberman Lives...

the hook: an enduring urban legend

Way back in 1985, a ski lift at Colorado's Keystone resort collapsed, killing two and injuring scores more. The tragedy happened a week or so before Christmas on a Saturday, prime vacation skiing. At the time a Denver resident and avid skier, I knew plenty of people out on various slopes that day. In the following weeks, at least half a dozen people told me that they knew the person next in the lift line when the bull wheel collapsed.

Critical Thinking Failure II

Virus transmission through air

A family member – an in-law type – was regaling us not long ago about how all this social distancing is going to kill the restaurant business. Yeah, he's probably right, at least restaurants that can't survive on a drive-up window. I agree with the guy that this is tragic, not just because there won't be good places to eat, but also – and a damned-sight more important – because millions of people will be out of work when bars and restaurants fold.

Watch Out, Bill Gates, Fox Nation is Coming for You!

Here's recent news from that fount of accuracy, Facebook.com...

Right-wing media types are screaming that, to paraphrase someone I know, "Of course Bill Gates wants everyone to take the vaccine. He owns the patent on it!" over a YouTube video with a Fox News chiron. What? there's a vaccine out there? Why doesn't my doctor know about it? Hell, why doesn't the White House know about it?