Sunday, July 25, 2021

For daws to peck at

Shot through the heart
And you're to blame
-- Bon Jovi

Birdemic came from corvid. I had randomly posted about corvids -- birds of the crow family -- in June 2019, which served to remind people that the word existed. A few months later, Bruce Charlton started using expressions like "19 corvids" as a sort of punning code, and I mentioned that the connection he had made reminded me of worst movie ever made, Birdemic: Shock and Terror. Soon birdemic had become the established code-word in our group of bloggers.

Last December, when another code-word was needed, I said, "Given our corvid theme, the first thing that comes to mind is 'for daws to peck at' — so, the peck?" (The daw is a species of corvid.)

Now peck is just as well established as birdemic, but I don't think most people realize it originated as an Othello reference. The line, spoken by one of Shakespeare's most Sorathic characters, is: "But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve / For daws to peck at: I am not what I am." Only now to I realize how appropriate that is. The peck is administered through the arm and seems primarily to target the heart -- so anyone who submits to the peck is in a fairly straightforward sense "wearing his heart upon his sleeve for daws to peck at." And I am not what I am" is a motto for our time, when nothing officially-is what it actually-is.


I put together the chart below with data from the daily birdemic reports published by Focus Taiwan, which gets its numbers from the Taiwan CDC. Since June, when they started publicly reporting the number of peck deaths, every single week has seen more deaths from the peck than from the birdemic itself.


Of course both numbers are relatively small, but still it's a pretty clear-cut case of the cure being worse then the disease. And yet they keep pushing it, and the public is still on board.

14 comments:

Otto said...

After all, the collective noun for corvids is . . . a “murder of crows”.

jorgen said...

This song has been stuck in my head the last 3 days. Specifically the 2 lines you quote and then the 3rd "You gave love a bad name." (I guess it was playing in a store I went to?) And this morning I determined to banish it. Thanks for bringing it back. :(

cae said...

Hi William,
I want to share this 25 minute video with you - https://www.lewrockwell.com/2021/07/no_author/dr-peter-mccullough-urgent-warning-about-poisonous-jabs/

It's an interview with this doctor:
"Dr Peter McCullough MD is a Professor at Texas A & M College of Medicine, President, Cardiorenal Society of America, Editor-in-Chief, Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine, Senior Associate Editor, American Journal of Cardiology and others. He has written 46 peer-reviewed publications on COVID-19 and is considered among the world’s experts on the topic, testifying in the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs in November 2020, and throughout 2021 in the Texas Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, in the Colorado General Assembly, and in the New Hampshire Senate, concerning many aspects of the pandemic response."

The most pertinent points are quoted under the video if you prefer to read.
I'm sharing this with several bloggers, so you may see it around - it's well worth getting out as widely as possible..
Carol

Wm Jas Tychonievich said...

From Carol’s link, 150 deaths is generally cause for concern in the US. Taiwan, a much smaller country, had 151 deaths in a single week (6/22-28).

Bruce Charlton said...

@William - I hadn't realized the Shakespearian link between jackdaws/ Covids and pecking, tho' I was somewhat familiar with the quote - perhaps it was working subconsciously.

I notice that jackdaws (like many birds) impose their hierarchy by pecking: the lower your status - the more you get pecked.

SeanFowler said...

The brave new world , corvid, compulsory pecking order.
I shall wear my heart upon my sleeve for daws to peck at. That’s astounding to anyone who has been following the evolution of the birdemic, Corvid, peck phenomenon.

Wm Jas Tychonievich said...

@Sean

The Greek-letter monikers for "variants" are very Brave New World, aren't they?

Otto said...

Because of a comment he left today on another video, today I stumbled upon a video from May 9, 2018, titled “DREAMS: Crow Inside”, by Peter Gregory Kelly. The creator wears a full face mask, and says:

“In this dream, a crow had made its way into my . . . house. And I thought, how did it get inside? It scraffled with the cat a bit, and in the scraffling, I got a few scratches on my . . . arm. The crow seemed to want to stay inside. That was really very puzzling; why would the crow want to stay inside?”

Sean fowler said...

@wjt they are! Looking forward to the epsilon semi moron variant with great anticipation.

Wm Jas Tychonievich said...

@Otto

That dude must have a really heavy Australian accent; the auto-generated transcript was in Spanish! I'll listen later when I have time. It's pretty weird that you stumbled upon such an obscure video, with only 62 views as of this writing.

Otto said...

I found it because of a comment that video creator (Peter Gregory Kelly) left on this video about Scientology. I looked at his profile because he also had a face mask in his profile picture, and I can't stand this sort of virtue signalling. But actually it was not virtue signalling at all, because he was wearing a mask years before the plandemic.

Wm Jas Tychonievich said...

@Otto

Having watched the video now, I can see that what you provided wasn't just a quote; it was a full transcript! What a very strange video.

Face mask -- crow -- scratches on my arm -- want to stay inside -- That's an awful lot of bull's-eyes for such a short video.

The link with Scientology -- a ridiculous totalitarian religion that presents itself as "science" -- also seems apropos.

As for the cat -- maybe something to do with this?

https://narrowdesert.blogspot.com/2021/01/qbert.html

Randy said...

I can find the recorded covid deaths easily enough at focustaiwan, but can't find where the vaccine deaths are reported. Do you have a link?

Thanks

Wm Jas Tychonievich said...

Here’s the latest. Scroll down to the purple and white infographic. It’s not in the text and therefore not searchable.

https://focustaiwan.tw/society/202107290012

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