vxbush 2/11/2020 6:05:35 AM

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Morning, campers. I have noticed that every single article I've seen about the coronavirus--at least, all the ones on the right side of the blogosphere, having not found a left side site worth considering daily--have all, to a one, decided that they cannot trust the numbers out of China. I know this is born out of a preponderance of evidence clearly demonstrating that China cannot be trusted, but I rarely remember seeing so much caution about China's numbers and intentions as in the last two months. 

I had a discussion with a coworker who studied and has worked as a geologist, and he has been noting how the graphics demonstrating the extent of the illness in China have usually made a point to make it look like the entire country is covered in the virus. Bad graphs lead to bad analysis and bad understanding, so this was very frustrating for me. I recognize that bad data can be worse than no data, but misrepresenting even bad data makes a problem that much worse. 

vxbush 2/11/2020 6:22:05 AM

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buzzsawmonkey 2/11/2020 6:49:29 AM

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To Lucius:

Interesting comparison between Blade Runner and The Big Sleep last night, the more so in that I've only seen the first one once, while I know The Big Sleep practically by heart.  

Notes on The Big Sleep:

It was originally a short-ish story by Chandler, called Killer in the Rain.  He expanded it to make The Big Sleep, which was his first novel.

There were a number of things that got left out of the film, probably due to production code restrictions:

1) Carmen is naked save for a pair of jade earrings in the scene where Geiger is shot; he's taking porn shots of her.  

2) The pornographer, Arthur Gwynn Geiger, is bisexual; his "shadow," Carol Lundgren, the guy who shoots Joe Brody, is his live-in lover, who also lays out Geiger's body in the house.

3) Chandler viewed his detective, Philip Marlowe, as a knight-errant; in his earlier stories, "Marlowe" is named "Mallory" in an intentional allusion to the Morte d'Artur,  and "Philip," derived from the Greek "phillippos" for "horse," is a reference to the chessboard knight.  Marlowe, in the stories, plays chess problems with himself for relaxation.

4) In the book, the first thing Marlowe sees when he enters the Sternwood mansion is a large stained-glass window of a knight trying to disentangle a girl who is tied to a tree.  The "knight" is Marlowe; the girl symbolizes Vivian, the "good" Sternwood daughter; the tree is the Sternwood bloodline, with which her father the General is obsessed, but which is coming to an end (hence, "stern" + "wood").  The tree also symbolizes the pornographer Geiger and his blackmail attempt; "geiger" is German for "wood," and of course there is also an obvious pun on the sexual use of the word "wood."

5) Geiger's first and second names are "Arthur Gwynn," i.e., (King) Arthur and (Queen) Guinevere, signaling his bisexuality. 

6) "Brody" was, at that time, a common slang term for suicide, derived from someone named Brody who jumped to his death from the Brooklyn Bridge.  Joe Brody does not commit suicide, but he is killed by Lundgren, who believes Brody killed Geiger.

7) In the book, Vivian Sternwood was married to the missing Sean Regan, who was murdered by Carmen for refusing to go to bed with her. Marlowe realizes this is what happened after Carmen tries to murder him for the same reason.

doppelganglander 2/11/2020 7:29:59 AM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 3:

Clearly I need to read the book before I watch the film again. I've seen it several times and I'm still missing subtext.

buzzsawmonkey 2/11/2020 7:46:47 AM

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Reply to doppelganglander in 4:

Chandler and Hammett were both educated men, and both used a lot of name symbolism and various other allusions in their writing.  

In the book The Big Sleep, General Sternwood's full name is mentioned only once: Guy de Brisay Sternwood.  A "guy" is variously a support (e.g., a guy-rope on a tent), and someone who is foolish or deluded; "guying" someone means fooling them.  "Brisance" is a form of shattering explosion; the General, wheelchair-bound, is himself shattered, and he is obsessed with the end of/decay of his bloodline ("stern" as in "end," "wood" as in "family tree").  Thus, he is trying to hold up/fooling himself about his shattered ("brisee," in French) bloodline.

I did a paper on name and color symbolism in The Big Sleep back in college.  I don't remember all the color stuff now, but this will do to go on with.

buzzsawmonkey 2/11/2020 9:11:05 AM

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PaladinPhil 2/11/2020 11:20:19 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 2:

A week ago that was published. Since then the numbers have doubled. As well, there's a twitter thread where someone has stated that the Chinese government is gaming the infected numbers by not counting those that aren't asymptomatic but still infected. Otherwise, you test positive for the virus but are still healthy, they won't count you in number of infected. I have been paying attention to the gis-data website and the numbers posted seem to hold this out. reported infections are plateauing in China.

Occasional Reader 2/11/2020 11:29:39 AM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 3:

I've never seen (or read) The Big Sleep.  Seems I have to remedy that.  

buzzsawmonkey 2/11/2020 2:44:38 PM

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Three White Feathers

A fascinating British revue song, of a social-climber looking back on her climb, from her father's pawnshop to social heights.  The chorus is, "Today it may be three white feathers (the emblem of the Prince of Wales), but yesterday was three brass balls (the traditional pawnshop symbol)."