Quantum Questions

“In quantum mechanics, Schrödinger’s cat is a thought experiment that illustrates a paradox of quantum superposition. In the thought experiment, a hypothetical cat may be considered simultaneously both alive and dead, while it is unobserved in a closed box, as a result of its fate being linked to a random subatomic event that may or may not occur.” [Wiki]

An intrepid ‘toonist applies the above to China (but same paradox might also apply to Ukraine or Russia or Biden or any of the GOPer 2024 candidates):

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31 thoughts on “Quantum Questions”

  1. bill on things there and not there

    Bill reacts to the top stories of the week, including balloon blasting, train derailments, and Nikki Haley’s presidential announcement.

    and on Fox or faux

    Ari Melber and Sarah Isgur join Bill to discuss the revelation that some Fox News hosts knowingly lied to their audience about the 2020 election results.Ari Melber and Sarah Isgur join Bill to discuss the revelation that some Fox News hosts knowingly lied to their audience about the 2020 election results.

  6. Hey everyone! I made this meme last night. Thought it might get a chuckle here. Have a great day!

  8. No longer FOB (fan of Bill). His “jokes” about Covid are hurtful and not funny, including last night’s comments the pandemic was overblown. Not sure what happened to him, but I know what happened to us, we lost our child and she lost her life. The world lost a bright star whose only wish was to help others. 

  9. My cousin died last night.  She fell and broke her neck a few months ago, then had a series of strokes.  She was always getting to the point where she could go do something for herself…after her son was grown, after this or that was handled.   Whatever it is you want to do, to the best of your ability, go do it now.  If you want to go to England for high tea, make some fancy sandwiches and put on some nice music and do it at home.  And, Ivy, I’m sorry that there are folks who try to diminish the magnitude of the pandemic. The lack of empathy seems even more pronounced when it comes from a liberal.  That kind of callousness is disheartening, wherever it comes from, though. 

  10. Bill is a professional contrarian, which means everyday he has to come up with some contrarian bs. this means that most days he is an idiot. It is why I don’t bother to listen to him, it is not worth my time.
    Jack

  12. Blue, please accept my heartfelt sympathies to you and your family for the loss of your cousin. And thank you for your kind and spot-on words. Live and let live. 

  13. My current COVID recovery status is not anything I hoped for when I came down with the virus in mid-November.  I had the shots and boosters.  Hand sanitizer in purse, truck, home and lots of other places. Mask any time out in public.  But, as Dr. Fauci put it, ‘not if you get it, but when you get it’.  The Plaxlovid worked, and the virus was killed.  I started my recovery the week after Thanksgiving.  I was quite ill until just before Christmas. I was less ill until mid-January.  During the entire time I had severe fatigue.  Starting in early February, yes two weeks ago, I started to have enough energy to walk one hundred feet and not need to rest for an hour.  But, I am just slightly better than that today.
     
    I know this hits people differently, I also know that for some of us this is not an easy recovery.  My sister’s friend just went back to work after eighteen months, he is in his thirties.  I am happy to have not suffered and be hospitalized.  But, this is dragging on a bit longer than I would like.  Still much less than the ten years it took me to recover from Hepatitis C and B.
     
    So anyone thinking this is a hoax is welcome to try it out, at least once.

  14. https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/17/health/ohio-derailment-rashes-health-impacts/index.html

    “Some residents of East Palestine, Ohio, say they have developed rashes, sore throats, nausea and headaches after returning to their homes this week, and they’re worried these new symptoms are related to chemicals released after a train derailment two weeks ago.”

    “DeSanzo says she wants to leave but can’t afford to. Her mortgage is about $400 a month, less than half of those of other homes she’s found in the area that are farther from the accident site. “I make $14 an hour. Where am I supposed to go?” she said. “I don’t want to be here now with with my kids.”

    “Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said a request for medical experts from the US Department of Health and Human Services has been granted, and officials should be arriving early next week to help prop up a clinic for patients.”

    “We know the science indicates that this water is safe, the air is safe. But we also know very understandably that residents of East Palestine are concerned,” he said Friday.

    “It’s not in all these people’s heads that are getting rashes, that are having the conjunctivitis, the pinkeye, from chemicals. You have a sore throat when you’re staying here. It smells out here.”

    “Greathouse said she was back in their house, about a block from the crash site, for 30 minutes when she developed a rash and nausea.”

    “Nadeau says rashes, sore throat, and headaches can be clinical signs of a chemical sensitivity.”

    “The volatile organic compounds released by the controlled explosion can cause symptoms similar to those reported by some East Palestine residents, including headache, sore throat, and nose and eye irritation, but experts say it’s extremely difficult to connect chemical exposures to health effects.”

    If they are being truthful, it’s really not. Calling it “chemical
    sensitivity” sounds like you’re blame the folks who were involuntarily exposed to various poisons that some use to make money.

    The railroad has billions of dollars. They need to pay to relocate everyone, now. Now.

  15. Blue Bronc, sounds like you may have gotten the long-haul version. I wish you full and complete recovery. 
    We think our daughter was an early delta, though we’ll probably never know for sure. It was unusual because of the speed of it and her youth. Her case was submitted to the research team at UAB and, hopefully, will be used to help others which was her mission in life. 

  16. Ivy – I am so sorry for you and your daughter.  This is a mean disease. 
     
    I am sure this is long haul now.  At first my doctor was not sure, but is coming along.

  17. Ivy & Blue

    Sorry for your losses

    Bronc – Hope everything continues to improve even if it is slower than desired.

    The advice to live now is right on.  Tomorrow gets here to darn fast.  Try not to miss out on your dreams.

     

  18. Ivey
    Delta made me put my mask back on for a while. We had a family get together in the summer after I thought being vaccinated made me safe.  My ex bil showed up to tell his kids that his sister was in the hospital on a ventilator, with covid. She recovered but it was scary for a while. She was a nurse and caught covid early, a mild case, then got vaccinated.  She should have been double protected. This is a weird disease and we aren’t through with it yet. My sister the nurse, who worked 20 years as a floor nurse in a cardiac unit. She changed jobs and worked at a doctors office. One day she filled in for the pulmonary nurse and went on hospital rounds with covid cases. She told me that one patient was alert and in good spirts, seemed to be doing well. They stepped out and the doctor looked at the xray and ordered a ventilator for the next day. In her 20 years she had dealt with a lot of issues but had never seen something like this.
    It is not easy losing someone you love, you are in my thoughts, take care.
    Jack

  19. https://www.npr.org/2022/12/15/1142428212/maria-ressa-new-book-how-to-stand-up-to-a-dictator-a-memoir-and-manifesto

    “…her plan was to harness social media and Big Data to finance investigative journalism and create online communities in her native Philippines to help solve some of the country’s major problems, including political corruption.”

    “After Rappler exposed the campaign and the way Duterte supporters used Facebook to manipulate public opinion, she and Rappler came under online attack.”

    “…Ressa pressed Facebook to crack down on Duterte’s online army, but says the company was more interested in profits than protecting public discourse.”

    “…Ressa’s new book, How to Stand Up To a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future, a memoir and manifesto that traces her humbling and harrowing journey from social media advocate to democracy defender in just a few years.”

    This is my next read, I think. I’ve been reading about Filipino history to prepare for the Marcos/Aquino musical, “Here Lies Love.” I’m spending as much time in NYC as I can, while I can.

    BB – Glad you are on the mend.

    It’s weird when family is spread all over the country, but it is what it is.

  20. Pat
    on your subject of the day.
    China is a large complex country/empire There is a reason they have over a million people in western China in interment/education camps. They are just trying to keep the lid on. Think about how complex Europe is and then double it. We talk about speaking Chinese but there is no “Chinese” People speak of  Chinese dialects but that is like saying that  French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese are just Latin dialects. One thing the 20th century taught us is that it is almost impossible to maintain large empires. The Russian Empire is currently in its last gasp.  China may follow. 
    They have certainly forgot what got them the tag of worlds greatest economy. Chairman Mao is back in charge. China is paying the price as companies move out of China and look elsewhere. You want to play in the world market? Ya gotta play by the world rules. And there ain’t no market if you piss off the US. 
    Jack

  21. Jamie, thank you for your words of sympathy. It always helps. 
    We’re on the mend, my husband too. He had cardiac bypass the week after we lost her. Left Alabama and moved to Colorado to be close now to the rest of the family. Time is of the essence, as you say.

  22. Jack, thank you for your very kind and generous words. Those stories totally resonate. I spoke to my daughter shortly after she was admitted. It seemed precautionary, she was alert and in good spirits. It was a few hours later the hospital called to say, shockingly, she wasn’t going to make it. The last thing I said to her was, “what do you want me to tell people?” Without a second’s hesitation she said, “the truth, of course!” That’s her legacy. 

  23. I just saw that Jimmy Carter is under hospice care. I’m sad to hear that. He was a great president and a better man.

  24. Ivy – I just saw that and immediately felt something.  He was an honest man in a position that is not known for it.  He was screwed over by many people, but he did several things that were not appreciated at the time.  The inflation or stagflation, he took the hard steps of getting it under control.  He tried to bring energy use and conservation awareness to a nation and world, decades ahead of time.  And, after leaving office he did so many important humanitarian actions. 
     
    I celebrate his life, and a great, real, legacy.  He was the last, I do not count the village idiot, military veteran in the Oval Office.  I wish I could have spent time with him, but, alas it never happened. However, I can enjoy knowing he was my President.

  25. BlueBronc, you are right, he was ahead of his time and we have still not caught up to his honesty and humility, not to mention his humanity; in fact, we have regressed. Jimmy had my vote the first time when I was a Florida resident. By his second campaign, I had relocated to Houston and got sucked into the money-grubbing climate there. Regretted that and didn’t vote for Reagan again. By that time, I was a Maryland voter and have voted Democratic ever since. Got to meet Jimmy once through my friend who was his fellow board member with Habitat for Humanity. He autographed his book Blood of Abraham to me and I still have it. Have been to his presidential library in Atlanta where his Nobel Peace Prize is on display.

  26. Craig probably has stories of Jimmy’s campaigns and presidency for another time.  He had close and personal view of his decency.   It speaks volumes that decency seems to be an outlier when it comes to character in politics.   

  30. Ivey, Jack, BiD and to so many others these past few years

    it is hard for me to find the right words of comfort (if ever there are any) when losses are so close and so devastating.  please accept my heartfelt condolences for yours which are so recent and the pain still so palpable.

    also, I am indeed sorry for the additional pain caused you by the dark humor and sick jokes that pop up in the links i’ve posted.  

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