08:09 – It would appear that Greece is now officially toast. Capital controls are now in effect, Greeks are permitted to withdraw only €60/day from their accounts, and an in/out referendum is scheduled for next Sunday. Assuming that the Greek government is unable or unwilling to pay the €1.6 billion due to the IMF tomorrow, the IMF has already announced that it will consider Greece in default. No grace period.
Meanwhile, the “Greek Disease” is spreading, most recently to Puerto Rico, which has already announced it will be unable to make payments on its outstanding $72 billion debt unless the US federal government bails it out. With US taxpayers already on the hook via the IMF for a considerable portion of Greece’s bad debt to the IMF, that means our tax money will be going to pay the debts of both of these deadbeats.
13:45 – I’d forgotten what a PITA it is to fill bottles with glycerol. The stuff is so viscous that it simply doesn’t want to go into the bottle. Fortunately, viscosity decreases with temperature, so I put the glass dispenser reservoir in a deep tray of very hot water, allow it to sit there for several minutes with occasional swirling, and then fill 60 bottles. Rinse and repeat.
I’m hearing from private correspondents that things in Greece are a lot worse than the media is admitting. Although the capital controls apply only to cash, apparently many/most businesses in Greece have stopped accepting credit cards, presumably because they don’t believe they’ll be paid. I know that I wouldn’t accept any kit orders with a Greek shipping address. I might not be paid at all, and I if payment was honored it might be in worthless drachma, with a non-optional conversion factor applied. Greece is now pretty much a cash-only country. Given the way things are, I wouldn’t accept even a certified check, let alone a wire transfer.
My guess is that Greece will crash out of the euro in the coming weeks, and possibly as early as tomorrow–the so-called Grexident that people have been dreading. At this point, it’s clear that the welfare of the Greek people is the absolute last priority of the eurocrats. So much for EU solidarity. All of them are completely in favor of solidarity, unless it’s going to cost them money.
…or not – why bail them out? Let Greece, and Puerto Rico, go bankrupt. Why would anyone want to throw good money after bad? Same for Detroit, and soon enough California.
I find it encouraging that the talking heads are now making comments about how a Grexit “won’t be so bad”. Apparently, the politicians are finally coming around to reality, so the media is allowed to talk about this as a real possibility. It’s going to be a total pain for Switzerland, though, because the CHF will go up even more. It’s almost 1-1 with the Euro now, and the dollar is worth a lot less than a franc.
As others have said, though, I don’t understand why anyone still has money in a Greek account. I suppose what we’re not seeing, from outside Greece, is whatever propaganda the Greeks have been fed by their government.
Presumably Greeks are counting on the EU’s promise to protect bank deposits up to €100,000. I guess they don’t remember or never knew what happened to Cypriot depositors a couple years ago.
Another excellent indicator is the price and availability of Greek Mail Order Brides. 🙂 lol
And with the recent Supreme Court ruling (Liberturd liberal interpretation) you can get as many as you want of whatever genotype you desire. Hold the Tzatziki Sauce.
I’ve known quite a few Greeks over the years, and I don’t recall any of them that I didn’t like. I dated a Greek girl (as in, born and grew up in Greece) while I was in grad school, and I liked her quite a bit.
That’s why I never bought into the Lazy Greek thing. I suppose it’s possible that all of the hard-working Greeks moved to the US and opened restaurants, but I doubt it. Greece’s problem is and always has been the Greek Government and its ridiculously generous social welfare programs.
Uh, Puerto Rico is US Territory since the Spanish American War, and all it’s inhabitants are U.S. Citizens, so we do support them in taxes, and Welfare services when they move from there to the 50 *states*….
well
long queues on ATMs, freezing banks? corralito? bah, not news for me
The only, and big, difference is Greece is next door to Turkey, one step from Syria and Putin is orthodox (remember 1946/7)
So, they are lucky, they are going to be saved, the referendum wording will be something as:
Vote yes or the hell is going to be cold in the future for you, they vote yes and that’s all.
We werent so lucky, but since we are allowing a China “scientific”base in Patagonia, maybe we are building some luck
Some people are saying that the grand viziers and nabobs of our State and financial system will not let it collapse; they will keep kicking various cans down the road to maintain power and won’t allow an international meltdown. And that they’re more likely to get World War IV going as a distraction and to kick-start various economic sectors. We’re sure trying hard to piss off the Russians and Iranians/Persians.
Overcast here and more showers expected. Back porch renovation proceeds, more indoor cleanup and organizing today.
Mrs. OFD brought back some truly Mexican spices from rural New Mexico yesterday and we had a turkey stew/chili last night, no tomatoes in it. Our sinuses are nice and clear now. Shazammm!
I think we’ll go back to cheeseburgers in paradise tonight, though.
An article from Gizmodo to get things warmed up here. Please post your flashlight comments there. lol
Did you nominate the Ultrafire Cree? Without getting into advantages and disadvantages, I think everyone here would agree that at < $4 including shipping, it has to be the best bang for the buck available.
Cue the arguments about quality of lights.
I think everyone here would agree that at < $4 including shipping, it has to be the best bang for the buck available.
Indeed. Any light in a pinch, even with lousy beam color, oddball beam pattern and other manner of issues, is markedly better than no light at all. Just keep something better around for long term use and serious lighting needs.
Cue the arguments about quality of lights.
Nope. Quality is not the issue in this case. Cheap, probably around when you need it, toss it if it fails, keep a dozen in the house type of lights is not an application for quality lights. In this case bang for the buck is hard to beat. Quality has very little value in that equation. Just keep something better available that you know you can rely on.
I think I’ve bought maybe two dozen of the Ultrafire Cree lights, and of those I think I’ve given maybe 8 or 10 away. The others are on my person and scattered around in bedside tables, glove boxes, etc. etc. And, yes, I do have “good” lights, three of them, from Fenix, Surefire, etc. and “good” is not counting several Maglites, which I think are utter crap. They’re nowhere near as good as the Ultrafire Crees.
Hey, speaking of which, I have a new motto for Maglite: “Almost as expensive as a good light; almost as good as an Ultrafire!”
To go along with my suggested new motto for North Carolina: “Visit North Carolina and get eaten by a shark!”
Feed the sharks. Tuppence a bag.
Indeed. Any light in a pinch, even with lousy beam color, oddball beam pattern and other manner of issues, is markedly better than no light at all. Just keep something better around for long term use and serious lighting needs.
BTW, I ended up buying these loss of power lights for my office building. I bought two, tried them out and have ordered four more. They turn on automatically when the power drops out for 8+ hours. I put two in the side hallways. I will add another one in the back hallway, one in the kitchen and two upstairs.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ETW7C24
They don’t come on until the power’s been out for 8 hours?
They don’t come on until the power’s been out for 8 hours?
Yup, I misspoke. They come on immediately when the power to the electrical plug goes out. The battery inside the LED light is supposedly good for 8+ hours of power outage. And then it automatically recharges when the power comes back on.
One problem with Greece is that tax evasion is one of the unofficial sports, one that everyone takes part in. Their cash economy is said to be quite robust. But they have no real natural resources other than fish, some ruins, and some quite lovely islands.
Robert Redford tells the UN “he sees this as our last chance” to save the planet from climate change. Why? Because he’s an actor, bitches. Now do it. I’m waiting a week and saying it’s to late. He also says he had mayors from “key” cities at Sundance and they are “ready to act.” And do what? House the millions of incoming crimmigrants and burn more fuel on them.
Yeah, I don’t get why actors, musicians and other public personalities think that they have anything to say. What makes even less sense is for official bodies like the UN to invite them to say anything.
The only explanation I can think of is that things like this are publicity stunts: tie name recognition to a cause, and hope that people subconsciously give the cause more credibility.
Back home from Germany and back at work. 366 days left until I no longer have to show up at this job.
“Back home from Germany and back at work.”
Und Willkommen zu Hause, mein Freund, in das Land der Regenbogen-Flagge und nicht mehr dang alt rayciss Confederate flag …
I’ve been following the horrific fireball and resulting injuries at a music festival/party/rave in Taiwan out of professional interest, as a former event producer.
ALL THESE LINKS HAVE GRUESOME PICTURES OF INJURIES
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3142946/Female-Taiwan-pool-party-fireball-victim-20-die-burns-explosion-left-500-people-seriously-injured.html
I’ve taken a closer look because it turns out that the cause of the fireball was simple cornstarch, suspended in air, and ignited. This should terrify anyone due to the ease of construction of a dispersion device and the fact that it is not a controlled substance, nor would a dog find it in a search. It is similar to using coffeemate or any other fine dust or powder suspended in air. Many tragedies have occurred in industry because of dust explosions, including one right here in Sugar Land.
I did a little quick research. A similar event, with 200 seriously burned victims would take up more burn beds than are existing in all of California, and would take 2/3 of the ACTUALLY available beds IN THE WHOLE US. The dollar cost would be staggering too at $10k/person/day with minimum of 10 days for the lesser burns and likely max of 300 days for the most severe.
To get an idea of what burn care requires, read the Hogwarts School of Grid-Down Medicine and Wizardry post on burn care, and the comments at:
http://griddownmed.com/2015/04/18/burns/comment-page-1/#comment-1035
Keep in mind that with the airborne fireball, inhalation injuries will be common.
Then read these quotes and info pulled from the internet:
US has 148 burn centers, only 43 verified by American Burn Association
TOTAL of 1835 beds
Cali only has 202 beds across the whole state.
Post 911 disaster planning for Cali intends to deal with 50% over normal or in LA total of 89 beds
Under disaster conditions LA county trauma centers will take up to 12 burn patients EACH, based on prepositioned supplies. Note that normal traumas and existing patients will reduce that number.
Even in the US most burn centers have under 15 beds.
Several states don’t have ANY burn centers.
Texas has 8 burn centers, 2 of them on military bases, in Houston only one verified by ABA.
There is no tracking system for nationwide bed availability.
Number of beds is declining.
“The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services puts the number of burn beds even lower, at just 1,500. And most of those are already filled, with the number available on any given day variously estimated at just 300 to 500.”
“We keep hearing we are ready for a terrorist attack,” said Dr. Jeffrey Guy, director of the 29-bed Vanderbilt University Burn Center in Nashville. But even now, “our space is full almost all the time.”
“Guy said it is not uncommon for regional burn centers to be full and for patients to be transported long distances. “There are days we are taking burn calls for Chicago,” he said.”
The numbers are a little old. But this ONE party accident would have overwhelmed even the disaster/mass casualty plan for the world’s sixth largest economy.
Think about that as it applies to terrorism.
nick
BTW, don’t look to the DOD for help, they looked to the civilian hospitals at the beginning of our adventures in the Gulf. They actually set up a system to track the number of beds available near military embarkation points, but it has since been dismantled.
(many of the filled beds and much of the unreimbursed cost to hospitals comes from people injured cooking meth, or more recently “Honey Oil” which is marijuana distilled with PROPANE.)
(the triage chart is basically– under 30 yo and under 30% burned, you are gonna get care, 40 and 40 it’s gonna depend, 50yo or over 50% burned and you are going to get painkillers to ease your passing if they are available. If you can believe it, some clerk somewhere thinks narcotic painkiller use should be reduced, even for burn patients.)
“some clerk somewhere thinks narcotic painkiller use should be reduced, even for burn patients”
War on Drugs, wouldn’t want someone to get addicted; heck, they might resell the medis, ’cause, you know, it’s for the children. Or something. /sarcasm
Sometimes you wonder just how stupid the industry is. I currently have to wear a compression sock on one leg (still has a blood clot in there somewhere). The price in the US is less than 1/4 (one quarter!) of the price here in Switzerland. But the insurance company won’t pay if I buy from out of the country. I mean, just how stupid can you get?
This is true for lots of medical products and drugs. The government, in collusion with the pharma industry, sets the prices. Especially high. Even though we’re a tiny country, and the border is less than an hour away for most of the population. Even when the companies are based here – you’d think they might avoid pissing in their own living room, but no…
@nick
Yeah, what you’re talking about is basically an FAE, with all that implies. That’s why grain elevator explosions are so impressive.
@brad,
Same thing happens here. The insurance companies set rates of reimbursement, as do the US Govt programs, so that’s what stuff ends up costing.
It is very common for people in border states to cross into Canada or Mexico to buy prescription drugs at dramatically lower prices. In Canada, it’s lower because the .gov healthcare set the price lower. In Mexico, it’s lower because NO ONE is setting prices.
Even inside the US, I’ve had drugs prescribed where the over the counter version was available cheaper than my CO PAY, and the insurance will reimburse above that and additional $30 to the manufacturer. I buy the OTC med in that case, both in protest of the system, and because it’s cheaper for me.
Karl Denninger has written extensively about this on his blog at market-ticker.org.
For many procedures, it’s cheaper to fly somewhere else, get the procedure and return than it is to pay all the deductibles and out of pocket expenses here.
nick
edited to remove the scenario, because I don’t want it keyword searchable.
Do you want to believe that no one else it thinking that this week? I’m afraid they are.
nick
I wouldn’t want to be the guy on the catwalk.
In Mexico, it’s lower because NO ONE is setting prices.
And you can’t be sure the drugs are what they say they are. Even here in the US if you buy supplements, they often contain junk. Recently it was found that many probiotics contain gluten and wheat, which is not on the label. Bad because they are often taken by people with celiac disease. A number of brand-name herbal supplements were tested and found to contain little to none of the herb and often had toxic herbs instead. I’ve started shifting to those that are USP certified. At least I can be sure it’s 100% snake oil.
Many tragedies have occurred in industry because of dust explosions, including one right here in Sugar Land.
If you are talking about the sugar explosion at Imperial Sugar in 2008, nope, that was in Georgia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Georgia_sugar_refinery_explosion
Any dust explosion is very bad news but dust in a large contained space needs serious ventilation.
“I wouldn’t want to be the guy on the catwalk.”
But for them, it’s a great honor and guarantee of a spot in paradise. And I’d rate the chances of getting away in the chaos as pretty good.
@ech
This is true, and one must be careful. Reputable farmacia’s have no interest in poisoning their customers.
Funny story- on one trip to get some allergy meds, for which I had been prescribed, but had not the money to buy, the store clerk suggested an even cheaper alternative. I usually bought the name brand, packed and sealed on the east coast of the USA by a major manufacturer, but was almost skint at the time, so took up the offer.
Upon passing thru customs, when asked for my reason to visit Mexico, I replied “to buy some prescription drugs” at which point the officer asked to see them. He noted that they were made in India, and couldn’t be brought into the country, and that the store knew that and shouldn’t have sold them to me. He offered to let me take them back or dispose of them. I took them back.
The store clerk shrugged, and returned my money. I went to another store and bought the name brand, after carefully inspecting the packaging.
That was the only problem I ever had, in years of doing my purchasing there.
nick
I’m willing to bet ICE under the direction of Homeland inSecurity is not so helpful now.
Yeah, speaking of fakes… My wife is a pretty serious gardener, and she wants some grow lights for her birthday, for winter gardening and seed sprouting. Fine, think I, and start looking around.
There’s nothing illegal about grow lights, but essentially all of the businesses are skulking around like they expect the cops to drop in on them. Yes, yes, we know that some people will use those to grow marijuana. Grow a pair, selling lights isn’t illegal, there’s no need to be furtive about it.
Too many of the companies clearly have the same product with a different name. Likely there is some original manufacturer, and everyone else has knockoffs. You also read about this in the product comments – wildly varying performance, differing appearance of the logo as printed on the products, etc.. The specifications sometimes make no sense at all, or at least clearly cannot match the product photo they show.
Also, I’m pretty sure that most are manufactured in China. Chinese quality can be very good (believe it or not, I’ve ordered a lot of granite paving from China – perfectly cut, great stuff). However, quality can also be very bad, and buying an unfamiliar product is a lottery.
FWIW I ended up ordering from platinumgrowlights.com, because they claim to make their own product; it is, in fact, visually different from all of the others. Dunno what “US quality” means today, but I hope it still means something…
@Lynn, no I was thinking back nearer the turn of the last century, but I didn’t look it up.
Given our petroleum industry here, you’d think we would have a lot more burn beds than we do.
Thankfully, the numbers are small, and primarily from a self-selecting group of idiots.
nick
@Brad
The real problem with Chinese-made stuff is quality control. A given Chinese factory may make top-notch stuff in the morning and turn out complete garbage in the afternoon. They’re notorious for it, which is why smart US companies keep their own QC people physically in the factories they contract with. Either that, or they individually inspect every item in every container they receive.
On the explosion: Having farmers on both sides of the family, I’ve certainly heard about silo explosions and such. The force of the explosions can be incredible.
What surprises me are the burns. The dust in the air should burn quickly enough to just be a quick blast of heat, which – I would have naively thought – wouldn’t have the ability to cause serious burns. Why does it? Or is the problem one of secondary fires, for example, synthetic clothing catching fire?
Both. Flash burns have killed a lot of people.
A blast from the past.
In the case of the Taiwanese party, it was at a water park, so most of the burns were flash burns. Some of the photos show what looks like burns from ignited clothing.
If you think about it, anything hot enough to start your clothes on fire will be hot enough to burn your skin.
From personal experience, a gaseous fireball will flash burn your skin pretty well, and I’d think a dust explosion would be longer duration (slower fire) than natural gas, letting the effect on your skin last longer.
Second degree burns on your face hurt REALLY bad, and having your hair on fire will do strange things to your mind.
nick
Also, every prepper medicine chest should have silvadene cream (silver sulfadiazine) in it. This stuff is magic on burns, and any raw flesh, like road rash. I understand it’s not normally recommended for use on the face as it can cause discoloration, but I’ve had it on my face twice, and a family member did once, for palm sized burns and/or abrasions, and our skin healed normally, without staining or scarring. As always, this should not be considered medical advice and YMMV.
I know that silvadene is on the WHO List of Essential Medications list, but there have been a couple of rigorous studies that concluded that it provides no discernible benefit and may in fact be detrimental.
@RBT, having used it myself, I believe in it.
I had some truly horrifying, deep, road rash on one quarter of my face, and have NO scarring or infection. We’re talking about enough damage to make people visibly ill, and turn away. DEEP grooves from stones in the pavement.
The only damage from the fire is slightly enlarged pores on my nose, and a slight unnoticeable change in skin texture.
I can’t imagine a better outcome for both injuries.
The drugs.com page for professionals can be found here:
http://www.drugs.com/pro/silvadene.html
@brad, there is new video that clearly shows the fire. It looks like a crewmember is fogging the area near the stage with what looks like a fire extinguisher. The fire starts localized and moves thru the cloud slowly and visibly. It seems to move around, probably because of different fuel air mix in different areas. There wasn’t the classic FA bomb explosion or fireball. If there had been, it looks like MANY more people would have been affected.
nick
And in other news,
It’s baaccckkkk…..
“Ebola returns to Liberia: Teenager’s death marks the first case in more than 6 weeks after the nation was declared disease-free”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3144372/Ebola-returns-Liberia-Teenager-s-death-marks-case-6-weeks-nation-declared-disease-free.html
Indeed, it never actually left. And cases are starting to rise again.
“Sierra Leone and Guinea had been seeing numbers of new cases drop dramatically.
But the decline has halted and the countries have been recording around 20 to 27 new cases a week since the beginning of May.
A total of 12 new confirmed cases were reported in Guinea and eight in Sierra Leone in the seven days up to 21 June, according to WHO figures”
nick