Events

Either I spent all day coding and therefore didn't have time to read these things, or I just didn't want to read these things. Let's start with the big questions: Should you use an electric or manual toothbrush? Should you make a proper French omelette instead of the sloppy American kind? Should you trip runners who zip past you on narrow sidewalks during social distancing? (I find an antique dog at the end of a two-meter leather leash works well as a warning that this could happen.) Should you stop...

When the economy went into its current medically-induced coma, cash movements slowed almost to a halt in some sectors. If you had cash four weeks ago, you have probably held onto it; if you held debt four weeks ago, you probably haven't gotten all the cash flows you expected. As yesterday's brief collapse of oil futures contracts demonstrated, the game of musical chairs almost became frighteningly real for traders: When you read a news article or hear an economist mention the price of oil, it typically...

Welcome to day 31 of the Illinois shelter-in-place regime, which also turns out to be day 36 of my own working-from-home regime (or day 43 if you ignore that I had to go into the office on March 16th). So what's new? Oy: Former Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele says America "has been abused by this president." George Packer says "we are living in a failed state." Josh Marshall calls Covid-19 "an extinction-level event for news." The Trump International Hotel has asked its landlord, the...

Demand for petroleum has crashed so hard and so fast that North American oil producers have run out of space to store the excess. This morning the price of US crude collapsed, falling 105 500% to $-2 $-37.63 per barrel; Canadian oil prices also dropped negative. That's right, if you want to take a million or so barrels off their hands, they'll pay you to do so. (This only affects delivery by month's end; for delivery in May, oil still costs $20 a barrel.) Meanwhile, in other horrific news: Canada...

Julie Nolke is a Canadian actor, comedian, and writer:

The president continues to ignore the opprobrium leveled against him after his asinine Tweets Friday morning: James Fallows notes how deeply weird and deeply troubling the Tweets were in themselves. Mary McCord says the Tweets were patently illegal, not protected speech under the First Amendment. Thomas Friedman says "Trump is asking us to play Russian roulette with our lives." Evidence has emerged that Trump's Tweets are part of an organized attempt to stoke the base funded by the DeVos family. Kurt...

Today is the 245th anniversary of the Battle of Lexington, which began the American Revolution. It's also the 25th anniversary of the Murrah Federal Building bombing in Oklahoma City. And day 28th day of Illinois' stay-at-home order.

Remember how I love my car? I love it even more today, and I'm a bit spooked by its costs. A new filling station opened up about 1500 m from my house, and they have the lowest gas prices around. Even though I last filled my car on November 24th, in Indiana, and even though I've driven 1,623 km since then, I still had half a tank of gas. So for $10, I put 21 L of regular into the tank, which means my car cost me 0.6¢ per kilometer to operate over the last 144 days, and I got an average of 1.3 L/100...

No, really, the president Tweeted that earlier today: LIBERATE MINNESOTA! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020 I mean, what the actual f? (He also wants to liberate Michigan and Virginia, by the way.) Charlie Pierce warned only Monday that this kind of nonsense was coming: The acting director of the Office of National Intelligence is encouraging citizens to break local laws, endangering themselves and others, in the middle of a pandemic. Of all the screwy moments that we have experienced...

The number of new Covid-19 cases per day may have peaked in Illinois, but that still means we have new cases every day. We have over 10,000 infected in the state, with the doubling period now at 12 days (from 2 days back mid-March). This coincides with unpleasant news from around the world: Covid-19 has become the second-leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for 12,400 deaths per week, just behind heart disease which kills about 12,600. More than 5 million people filed for unemployment...