So tracing the Indo-European via the Greek one concludes that the plural of English “anecdote” is anecdota which by its Greek root is fairly interpreted as “unpublished data”.
…sorry, grew up with Fowler’s“Modern English Usage”instead of fairytales at bedtime… scarred me for life…
You, sir, might want to compete for the Pedant’s Pendant. Congratulations.
I sadly fail even to get nominated.
However, while I use that quote to comment on anecdotal evidence myself, I have to point out that anecdotes can add up to data, and we are counting on it. We still want double blind randomised trials, not a lot of anecdotal evidence, though. But anecdotes inform us. They make us tick. Every good statistician tells stories with their analysis, and the basis for every story is experience. Something to relate to. Anecdotes.
However, the point still stands. Right now, every anecdote is a story, but sometimes even not a data point.
Might you wish to so nominate me, I should carry the distinction with pride.
Yeah, I too labour in a field (finance) where conducting large scale double blind studies is frowned upon. The days when one could “acquire” entire economies and conduct financial and political experiments with them were (in theory) out the window with the establishment of the UN.
We must both, for better or worse, rely on the cases where countries perform their own radical experiments… which COVID-19 is providing quite nicely. Ranging from , and on one end and the and on the other.
Because of illegal parties at the “Ballermann”, Mallorca has decided to close down all the pubs and bars of the “Beer-” and “Ham Street”, which are especially popular with German tourists. This order is initially valid for two months and comes into force immediately with the publication of the corresponding decision in the Official Gazette. This was announced by the Balearic Tourism Minister Iago Negueruela in Palma. For the same reason, the regional government also ordered the closure of all pubs and restaurants on the Puerto Ballena street in the British stronghold of Magaluf, west of the island’s capital. Negueruela said that the behavior of a few vacationers and restaurant owners should not jeopardize the enormous efforts of the people on the Balearic Islands in the fight against the pandemic. According to official figures, there are currently 128 active corona cases in Mallorca among the approximately one million inhabitants. The excessive celebrations of tourists without protective measures last weekend did not lead to a corona outbreak, said Andreu Serra, head of the tourism department of the Mallorca Island Council, in Berlin. Serra went on to say that the incidents on Saturday night were isolated incidents in two streets. Serra assured that work was being done to take strict action against individual violations.
The vast majority of tourists were adhering very well to the restrictions. The current number of cases shows that the strict measures are working. The losses for Mallorca due to the coronavirus pandemic are difficult to quantify. It is important that the season that has now begun can continue well into the autumn. Between 30 and 50 percent of the available hotels are now open.
ETA: click through for the photo. Those were on social media on the weekend already. I suspect some pub/bar/whatever owners are going to be really upset, but you know what? Fuck them. They saw this coming.
“…map of states where the highest percentage of Americans embrace Christian nationalism matches up almost exactly with the current map of where COVID cases are surging.“
I lived in Mallorca for a year on what (at the time) was the much less touristy east side. The tourists (all gothophones of some stripe: Swedes I think were the most remarked upon) were really something out of myth: unable to stand before they were off the plane, carried or rolled to the hotel shuttle, lobster-red before they’d made it to the hotel, and mostly catatonic until they were rolled back in the plane home.
In the course of a year we went to Palma once, save going to the airport.
Dude, I have had 5 moms this morning ask me about school reopening. Every choice is wrong, and we don’t even know how wrong yet, but whatever choice is made, the consequences will inevitably be worse than anticipated. I can’t give them good advice because there is no good advice. I feel helpless and useless. And then I have the occasional Trumpist who wants to lecture me on how we need to just get on with it. “There won’t be that many kids get sick.” Then we have the Virginia High School Sports League meeting today to decide on footbal season (and other sports, but the don’t really matter) and I expect huge blowback if they cancel. Which they absolutely should, but I don’t know if they have to guts to do so. No, man, I am not OK.
Significant parallels here with Virginia, in Texas generally.
I hear you: it hurts, it hurts to give a damn, and the timeline for what-all we have on deck (dual diagnoses x 1023) is looking lengthy and FUBAR.
And I can’t imagine how difficult it is to remain the consummate lips-pursed medical professional as various Cult45ers soak up any of your bandwidth. Yuck.
In case you need a laugh combined with commiseration and struggle, here’s something I have find useful in mutiple contexts. Dr. Jahren writes on dealing with sexism. I have deployed her advice when I deal with neighbors who are QAnon-adherents, New Agers, FoxNewsFans, etc.
NSFW:
Btw Dr. Jahren’s advice on how to be an ally is spot-on, darkly hilarious and well-written… and also definitely NSFW.
There truly is no good advice, and anything a reasonable professional can come up with that seems like advice is unlikely to be supported at the city/county/state/national level [in the U.S.] now anyway.
So we find ourselves trapped in some 2020 Groundhog Day mashup with Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 but with shittier writing and fewer laughs. IRL consequences that include death and permanent disability (which I am trying to explain to our soon-to-return-to-very-faraway-college son).
Have been thinking about a re-read of this, I am overdue:
I hope you can get outside the clinic/office even for just a few minutes, and let the sun and wind and trees and fresh air give your brain and heart a break.
tracing the Indo-European via the Greek one concludes that the plural of English “anecdote” is anecdota which by its Greek root is fairly interpreted as “unpublished data”.
…sorry, grew up with Fowler’s “Modern English Usage” instead of fairytales at bedtime… scarred me for life…
The days when one could “acquire” entire economies and conduct financial and political experiments with them were (in theory) out the window with the establishment of the UN.
Ranging from 
, 
and 
on one end and the 
and 
on the other.
