The Daily Blog Open Mic – Sunday – 22nd March 2020

1. Media watch this morning (also available later tonight) on RNZ, was critical of ‘journalists’ giving opinions on health matters, particularly Covid19.

   Some astounding statements by the likes of Hosking and talk back hosts on Radio Retard and Radio Ritalin.
   Astounding in the level of medical ignorance and the danger of influence they may have on gullible listeners.
   For example , Barry Soper, live on air advocating the herd immunity theory of clownish Boris Johnston who to his credit has toned down his pretense of knowing anything and has sought the advice of real scientists..
   It’s astounding that the likes of Hosking, Soper, Duplisses Allen and Hawksberry (can’t be bothered checking the spelling) are taken seriously by anyone, let alone themselves..
   “In the field of psychology, the Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people assess their cognitive ability as greater than it is. It is related to the cognitive bias of illusory superiority and comes from the inability of people to recognize their lack of ability. Without the self-awareness of metacognition, people cannot objectively evaluate their competence or incompetence”-Wikipaedia

   Perhaps their illusory superiority is just an extension of the syndrome to becalled the ‘Dunning-journalist-Kruger’ effect

   • It’s astounding that the likes of [yeah, that lot] are taken seriously by anyone, let alone themselves..

     It was in-part a money-status thing, I think. With Covid19 acting as the great leveller, people may begin to reassess those they’d been blindly following.

2. Bits I gathered on Covid-19 info.
   Amazon wage rise  – With unprecedented rise in demand – The online retailer said it will also temporarily raise pay by $2 an hour through the end of April for hourly employees, who work at its warehouses, delivery centers and Whole Foods grocery stores. Hourly workers in the United Kingdom and other European countries will get a similar raise.    https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/coronavirus-updates-cases-fears-deaths-us-latest-2020-03-16/

   Life must go on (it’s all a gamble anyway).
   https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/21-03-2020/covid-19-nz-live-updates-march-21-china-and-japan-contemplate-reopening-european-deaths-peak/
   The Government and the hospitality industry produced guidelines to assist with managing and reducing transmission of Covid-19. The guidelines developed between government, Hospitality New Zealand and SkyCity, set out how the new restrictions on physical distancing and the limit of 100 people in an indoor space will work in bars and restaurants and other venues.

   Key components include:
   Implementing a COVID-19 guest register of everyone in a venue
   Undertaking regular head counts of people in a venue
   Configuring electronic gaming machines to allow appropriate physical distancing
   Limiting table games at a casino to 5 persons per table
   “These measures are important to protect the health of New Zealanders, which is our number one priority,” Health Minister David Clark said. “They will change the way we attend bars and restaurants and have an impact on the way people go about living their lives, but we have to apply common sense in these circumstances.”

   • Key components include:

     These guidelines don’t go far enough, imo. They need to be much stricter across the board, surely, if we’re serious about preventing overwhelm further down the track.

3. We are facing the worst economic crisis for decades at least Having so many sectors close down and workers being unable to work, that means we will likely have a greater economic crisis and collapse than even in the early 1930s.

   Prepare for the worst, governments can only carry so much, and cannot bail out or nationalise all businesses. It is damned serious what we are facing.

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