Some small towns in Texas are already shutting down schools, because too many staff and students are sick with COVID-19. This is from a few days ago in some west Texas towns outside of Midland. There is lots of misinformation out there but I don’t see how you can say this is being well handled in Texas. From The Texas Tribune.

Rural schools shut down to keep COVID-19 from overwhelming their small communities

Is fracking in West Texas the stupidest thing ever done by mankind? I think it is in the running. I wonder who is going to pay to clean up this mess?

The Methane Hunters

When I think of all the misinformation and conspiracy theories circulating these days I always blame The Internet. I was curious about who is spending time on the internet, since you might think people more prone to believing misinformation are the people spending the most time on the internet. It seems like there is a more interesting question. Who is watching broadcast TV vs other on demand streaming media?

How the Median Age of TV Viewers Differs Across Platforms

I spent most of my adult life doing compute accelerators. These are specialized pieces of hardware to speed up certain specific calculations. It was always a fringe activity, so it is surprising to see an article like this in a mainstream magazine like the New Yorker. A good read, and surprisingly accurate.

The World’s Largest Computer Chip

From the Atlas of Prejudice.

I remember something about The Opium Wars from history class. I knew it involved the British and China. I assumed it was an early War on Drugs, with the British trying to stop the sale of opium from China. Actually it was quite different. The British wanted to be able to import and sell opium into China. Opium had been banned by the Chinese government and the British went to war, and won, over the ability to sell opium in China.

Today the news is about the end of the 20 year US war in Afghanistan. I recall that Afghanistan produced something on the order of 90% of the worlds heroin. I wondered what the effect of the war on heroin production was. Like the Opium Wars it was not at all what I assumed.

It seems the Taliban all but halted opium production in Afghanistan, only to have it return once they were driven out by the US forces. There also appears to be connections between the Afghan government supported by the US and the drug trade. I am sure this could be a complicated situation, yet this raises lots of questions. I found an article that appears to have legitimate data but is critical of the US involvement. I tracked down the source and it appears to be a legitimate academic source, but affiliated with Russia. Worth a read, just for the opposing view. It also touches on the heavy use of private “contractors” in the conflict.

The Politics of Heroin and the Afghan US Pullout

I have posted lots of articles on what I am calling the Failed State of Texas. This is a good one, from Vox, but I will limit these in the future. It has basically all been said at this point. I’m will add one point about where governments, in my opinion, go wrong. When your government holds power by means other that popular support for policies, you are living in a failed state. It has nothing to do with left or right, rich or poor. I will double down on this and say that if the same group of people is running your city / state / country for more than say, a decade, you are living in a corrupt, failed state.

The Texas GOP’s war on governing

A good read about the abusive relationship between the governor of Texas and the large cities. Austin has long been they target for this sort of pettiness, but as Dallas and Houston and even places like Williamson and Hayes county turn Blue, the people living in these places are also on the receiving end of this nonsense. Of course, the vast majority of the wealth and economic activity is in these urban areas, especially now that oil and gas are winding down. A sort of economic apartheid.

Texas Republicans love to punish Austin. Now the pandemic is doing it for them.