UCSB has decided to do classes remotely for the rest of winter quarter

Because of the coronavirus scare, the university’s chancellor just sent out an email, stating that:

“Our campus will be transitioning to remote instruction for the remainder of Winter Quarter and the start of the Spring Quarter through at least the end of April. Given our campus’s transition to remote instruction and the possibility of additional travel disruptions and restrictions, we are recommending that all undergraduate students traveling for spring break be prepared for the possibility of remaining away from campus through the month of April. We understand that graduate students have different academic commitments and recommend that they consult with their advisors and departments.”

I wish this outbreak was handled better from the outset. We landed men on the moon over half a century ago; we have vast communications, data collection and analytical abilities; and the wealthiest country in the world did less than it could have when there was a chance to contain this thing. Lately, or maybe for the last few years, I’ve felt like I should take reality less seriously; like the universe I’m living in diverged from the one I grew up in, which at least felt like it was anchored by rational, self-consistent facts. Maybe Hugh Everett was right about quantum mechanics after all, and this is some state of the universal wave function that branched; that we’re living in a universe that would seem improbable from some other point of view. Whatever. I’m including an image of the lawn between Ellison Hall and the library at UCSB just because.