Links and Thinks 20201112

(from 20201012)
1) In 1989, USC Had a Depth Chart of a Dozen Linebackers. Five Have Died, Each Before Age 50
Playing football is like voluntarily getting into a car accident. Multiple car accidents.

2) Johnny Rotten is supporting Trump… uggh…

Is his support for Trump idiotic? Yes. Is he a big political influencer in the swing states, this old real-estate punk? Of course not. The anger comes from wanting your heroes to be uncomplicatedly pure for ever, which is a peculiar demand to make of anyone.

3) Clara-Jumi Kang (Piazzolla, Four Seasons of Buenos Aires)
I love this. It pays necessary homage to Vivaldi, but it’s raw and dirty and full of life.

4) Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center

5) Cabin fever: tickets for meal onboard Singapore parked plane sell out
No clue what this is about:

Diners have rushed to pay up to £360 per head to eat a meal on a stationary plane, in the latest sign of public appetite to recreate the onboard experience without travelling.

6) First documented COVID-19 reinfection in the United States.

However, the genome sequences of isolates from the first infection (specimen A) and reinfection (specimen B) differed significantly, making the chance of the virus being from the same infection small. What is worrisome is that SARS-CoV-2 reinfection resulted in worse disease than did the first infection, requiring oxygen support and hospitalisation.

7) Trump voters haven’t been driven by racism. If anything, it has repelled them.
An alternate view of Trump supporters.

Trump has seen a dramatic… collapse among people who used to support him… Critically, this shift does not seem to be driven by economic turbulence or perceived mismanagement of COVID-19… the president’s grotesque response to the killing of George Floyd, and especially the protests that followed, seems to have been the main driver. Most Americans, among them significant numbers of Republicans and independents, agree that Trump is exacerbating racial tensions — and it is driving many towards his opponent.