News notes from around the interweb:
- JetBlue agrees not to furlough pilots until at least May 1, 2021 The pilots certainly agreed to something in return but says it’s not a change to pay rates. Bear in mind that it’s costly to furlough pilots and bring them back, which is why American expects to furlough more flight attendants than pilots.
- I haven’t seen anything that tells me planes are a significant vector of spread for SARS-CoV-2 however a number of experts have an open letter worried about it including the continued sale of middle seats by American and United.
OUR OPEN LETTER TO @united & @AmericanAir:@FAScientists calls on United and American to reverse their decision to fully book planes
We write to express strong concerns about your recent decisions to return to booking your airlines’ flights to capacity: 🧵 #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/yguUf2PVwt
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) July 1, 2020
- Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly seen waiting together at an LAX TSA checkpoint I don’t actually know who these people are, but they’re supposed to be pretty important, but not too important to wait for security bureaucracy (or to use discrete alternatives).
- Live TV on American Airlines has been suspended.
AA;
live TV on narrowbodies suspended (blamed on "no sports")— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) July 1, 2020
- A plan to effectively nationalize Star Alliance member TAP Air Portugal would have Dave Neeleman leaving with $50 to $62 million, and Azul giving up the right to convert a loan to equity. (HT: Jonathan W.)
@ Gary — Are these FAS people even a real thing? Keeping middle seats blocked isn’t really that much better, is it? I guess the upside is that 1/3 less people can get sick per flight.
A middle seat is what, 18″ wide? Maybe less? Add in a couple inches for armrests and you’re still a very long way from 6′ social distancing. As an adjacent passenger, you’re not going to get much protection either way, even wearing a mask, as the virus proteins are miniscule, electron microscope small, and can be inhaled right through a surgical mask. In fact, a mask is helpful only when an already infected person is sneezing or coughing as the mask prevents airborne particles from spreading. That’s why doctors wear one when operating but patients don’t.
I find this Eric Ding guy insufferable — and I’m Asian, you could even call me an Asian supremacist — but he’s right on the middle seat issue. We don’t need data to tell us whether or not blocking middle seats has any use. We only need basic scientific theory. Packing people closer together increases risk. A wayward sneeze or cough droplet has to travel far less to infect someone else. The increased risk might not show up in studies or reports but it’s there — it’s common sense.
As to why Eric Ding sucks (outside this middle seat issue), first of all he actually calls himself “Dr.” No person of actual expertise is so insecure as to need to do that on freaking Twitter of all platforms. Besides, “Dr.” is popularly understood to mean either MD/DO or PhD. Eric Ding has neither of these degrees. He has an ScD whatever the fuck that may be. I’m not an epidemiologist but I know damn well the fields of epi and public health and biostats and all these fields relevant to COVID-19 have PhD programs.
There are all sorts of degrees which are technically doctorates but do not involve the level of rigor that an MD/DO or PhD require. So you can call yourself Dr., which is laughable to begin with, but not even having a true Dr. degree, man what a joke. Eric, please.
Second of all, he took his wife’s last name to appear more white. Hashtag cuck. Hashtag simp. Wanna know why I’m an Asian supremacist? Because it’s White supremacy that drove Eric to be a self-hater of his race.
I’m a tall person supremacist.
Jason, not to rain on your p(ti)rade about the ScD (Doctor of Science) degrees your hero Ding has, but here goes. Harvard offered those degrees in lieu of PhDs which weren’t offered in those particular areas by the School of Public Health when he attended the school. Beginning Fall of 2016 going forward, PhD’s replaced ScD’s in the School of Public Health in those areas of study. BTW, other professionals are entitled to be called Doctor such as Chiropractor, Dentist, Naturopath, Veterinarian, etc. Also, most lawyers are JDs (Juris Doctor), many religious leaders are Doctors of Divinity, and other cases, which I won’t belabor. Just sayin. Cheers Google is your best friend when in doubt!