Analytics

Saturday, May 2, 2026

Post #7667 J

 Endemic Report

The latest COVID-19 CDC weekly stats:




The Sick Times:

The winter sure continues to fade with the virus up in one state, Arizona. Probably the most reported story was a former Fauci adviser, David Morens, being indicted:

is accused of using his private email account to intentionally circumvent public records laws while employed at the National Institutes of Health. The Justice Department alleges that he concealed or destroyed records of discussions related to COVID-19 research grants, including an effort to revive a controversial coronavirus grant.

Morens faces charges of conspiracy against the United States; destruction, alteration or falsification of records in federal investigations; concealment, removal or mutilation of records; and aiding and abetting, according to a Justice Department news release. If convicted, he could face decades in prison. 

The indictment reflects Republicans’ long-held belief that the federal government covered up key information about COVID-19 as the pandemic unfolded. Despite numerous probes, the origins of COVID have never been proven. Scientists are unsure whether the virus jumped from an animal, as many other viruses have, or came from a laboratory accident. A U.S. intelligence analysis released in 2023 said there is insufficient evidence to prove either theory.

Blanche said Morens’ alleged conduct was part of an effort to “suppress alternative theories” about COVID-19’s origins. The Justice Department also accused Morens of having an improper relationship with a collaborator, including allegedly accepting a gift of wine and discussing COVID-19 research and potential publications in a prominent medical journal.

Other COVID-19 news items:

  • "Princeton University professors criticize COVID-19 lockdowns at Rockefeller Center event....Princeton political science professors Stephen Macedo and Frances Lee argued that COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns negatively impacted students and failed to reduce mortality rates."
  • "Long-term study of COVID lockdown and family life shows unexpected, lasting effects on fatherhood"
  • Scientists Say This Surprising OTC Medication [nasal spray] Lowers Your Risk of COVID. It may shorten how long you’re sick, too."
  • "The Beloved Grocery Store Experience [free samples] COVID-19 Nearly Killed"

Other Notes

The blog dubiously picked up thousands of pageviews over the long-term trend over the past week. I finally put out my Iran essay this past week to reach 40 posts in April. The last few essays have been difficult to rate, in part because I needed to succinctly sketch a brief history of US-Iran relations while explaining my evolution toward a more direct opposition to POTUS in the context of proactive neocon interventionism. I tried to make it comprehensive, detailed, and readable. Every writer likes a wider audience; as I write, it still hasn't reached 2 dozen readers yet. On X/Twitter, I've had a minor recovery in followers, which was trending below 200.

Well, it's easy to explain the latest topic to discuss in this segment this week. I've recently lost 2 multi-TB hard drives; I have others (I'm a professional DBA, and I'm obsessed with backups, including multiple cloud drives). Over the last several months, we've seen sharp rises in prices:

SSDs are more expensive than more traditional HDDs. For example, I bought a 2 TB SSD for about $89 on Amazon last June. Today, the same vendor sells a half-TB for a few dollars more. In contrast, you can order an internal 4-TB HDD for about $130. In early 2024, I bought a 12-TB external drive from the same HDD vendor for about $260. (Now, to be clear, the newer disks may have slightly better quality, performance, etc.; it's not just cost per TB, and HDD cost gets cheaper per TB as you scale in size, but this is still in the context of cheaper, better hardware. I remember buying my first PC clone as a junior professor for about $3000, and I bought a vastly more powerful budget "no frills" HP laptop last year for about $130. 

Now, all of this is to set the stage for a similar scam I've repeatedly seen on YouTube and Facebook over the past week, offering a 16-TB drive at a nominal price (see the first image below).  I didn't capture the pitch. The fraudsters know that  $44 is not realistic for anything near a large-capacity drive (in today's market). A more reasonable, realistic ad is in the second image below. So they try to explain the context as something like a huge order falling through, and they're stuck with inventory they're ready to dump at fire sale prices

If it sounds too good to be true... If legit, I would have backed up the truck and bought every one I could get my hands on. I tried to Google the purported reseller and found the scam seems to recycle (at least every couple of years). I've probably seen close to a dozen YouTube videos or more on offers from other scammers debunking a similar gimmick, cracking into the case to see what's in it (sometimes a small SD card like for your phone); they apparently tweak the firmware so it looks like it shows it has claimed storage, but if you try to copy big files, it like takes forever or it loops through file copy and you won't find the copy on said device.

Even Walmart's own platform has some similar gimmicks (high storage under $50 deals) I think I found near the bottom of webpages browsing through data storage (maybe sold through the site by others?) They might need to filter what others are selling to avoid unhappy customers getting scammed.

  
WARNING! THIS IS A SCAM! DO NOT BUY!





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