10:01 – It was 19 degrees colder this morning than yesterday morning, 37F (3C) versus 56F, with drizzle and fog. It’s to be like this for the next several days.
Lynn from B&T Tire called late yesterday afternoon. The Trooper was fixed and ready to pick up. It was a lower radiator hose. It had come loose from a clamp and come up against the power-steering belt, which cut a long slice into it. Lynn asked if the truck was overheating. I told him I’d been keeping an eye on it and it was behaving just as normal. It comes up to temperature pretty quickly after it’s started, and never gets above about a third of the way up the temp gauge. He was surprised, since he said there was only about a quart of coolant left in the system. He drained that, flushed the system, and pressure-tested it at 13PSIG for half an hour or so with nary a drip. So it’s good to go.
There was a first yesterday in the US, and not in a good way. A 70-year-old woman in Nevada died of a bacterial infection that was resistant to all 26 antibiotics that are approved for human use in this country. FTA:
Then you get sick, your immune system is down, and you take antibiotics for an infection. The antibiotics kill everything but the resistant bacteria, which have by now collected all the resistance genes and no competition. That’s how you get a pan-resistant infection.
The danger isn’t just that a single pan-resistant bacteria emerges and terrorizes the world. It’s that pan-resistant bacteria can keep emerging independently. The nightmare might go away, only to come back somewhere else.
We’re fast approaching the end of the antibiotic era of human history. If things continue as they are, antibiotics will continue becoming less effective overall, and more PDR bacterial pathogens will continue to emerge. Within a few more years, at most a couple of decades, antibiotics will become essentially useless.
Scientists are working on alternatives, including nanoscale machines that are essentially microscopic hunter-killer submarines. They’re programmed to seek out and destroy specific bacterial pathogens. Eventually, they’ll be programmable on-the-fly to the infectious microorganism affecting a particular patient. But that’s probably a decade or two away.
In the meantime, I suspect humanity’s best bet will be bacteriophage viruses, which are genetically engineered to target specific pathogens. The Soviets and now the Russians have been working on bacteriophages for decades, and have had some successes.
Ultimately, the answer isn’t going to be developing new classes of antibiotics that depend on chemical mechanisms to destroy pathogenic bacteria; it’ll be on methods to selectively destroy them physically. It’s like the difference between a housefly becoming immune to chemical pesticides versus becoming immune to a flyswatter. The former happens continually; the latter isn’t going to happen.
10:50 – I just got back from picking up the Trooper at B&T Tire. The total was $110.69. In Winston-Salem, it would probably have been two or three times that.
Antibiotic resistance won’t be a problem. Thanks to quantum uncertainty and nanoscale manipulation, existing drugs will self-modify to attack the new bacterial DNA, through a combination of genetic algorithm and selective reproduction pressure.
… Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s how to garble science news. I learned from the best: radio science reporters who misunderstood the articles written by print science reporters who misunderstood the papers put out by researchers who were glossing over their findings’ shortcomings and disguising it with bafflegab.
Within a few more years, at most a couple of decades, antibiotics will become essentially useless.
They have found that in some cases the older, rarely used antibiotics work well on some of the resistant strains.
Bacteriophages are one alternative, but the FDA wants to individually approve each phage, which defeats the purpose of them, as they are custom made for each patient. That can be changed in a short time by Congress, though.
Gee, this latest post by a Mr. SteveF, who allegedly works and resides in the Capital District, seems rather cynical.
I APPROVE.
“They have found that in some cases the older, rarely used antibiotics work well on some of the resistant strains.”
Yes, that’s why I stock SMZ/TMP, chlor/thiamphenicol, and others. There’s also interesting work being done on alternating dosing with two antibiotics, both of which the bacteria is resistent to. Not co-dosing, but giving one on odd days and the other on even days. No one knows yet why that sometimes works. My guess is that the mechanism is analogous to the Three Stooges’ Moe’s back-and-forth slap.
Truck fire at Crabb River Road Shell gas station close by my house last night:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHFrK7kPeW0
Not good. Gas stations are dangerous places. Be ready to run.
Could have been worse. Down in Winston early this month, some idiot filled a gas station kerosene tank with regular unleaded gasoline. I didn’t know that was even possible. They didn’t notice the problem for ten days or so. I guess the house fires in homes of people using kerosene heaters finally tipped someone off.
My Twins have hopes for CRISPR based systems to cure us of all. I asked them hurry up and make me immortal. That way I can taunt the new “Science Guy”, MrSteveF, until the ends of time.
I love tRump. Tweeting “Civil Rights Legend” and all around Black Libturdian John Lewis to shut up and fix his own district problems. Snowflakes are melting all over, yet, BLACK! John Lewis can call tRump illegitimate and not recognized as President, and it’s OK. ‘Cause “I’M BLACK” you WHITEY! racist!
I just saw that tweet from tRump a little while ago calling out that cretin Lewis and it was both funny as chit and also, like tRump says, sad. His own district is a major shit-pile of violent crime and getting worse by the day and he’s done nothing to even try to fix anything. He’s been riding his early civil rights work since that era and has long since become sanctified by the MSM and ruling Bolshevik class. Just another race hustler now, truly sad.
Being “the science guy” seems like a pretty sweet gig. Normally I say stupid stuff which makes no sense for free. Now you’re telling me I can say stupid stuff and get paid for it? Hand me that contract!
And Joss Whedon back on Twitter basing RINO Ryan. I like Whedon’s stuff, but should I boycott his movies/shows? The best answer I read was to “borrow” his stuff from the Internet when it comes out and not patronize the movies.
Mr. SteveF should be a highly paid science guy.
OFD ought to be an even more highly paid (because older) literature guy. Science changes by the minute these days, whereas the classics last forever. (except where their text is “interrogated” by “critical theory” Bolsheviks).
Quick IT question for anyone familiar with VMware running on Linux:
I have a fully licensed version of Workstation 12.0 Pro installed but it will not launch from the Mint menu, the Desktop or the command line. Strange. It’ll act like it’s gonna start and then nothing. No response thus fah from the VMware “community.”
“Joss Whedon”, yet another Hollywood better than thou.
Not much need to “borrow” his stuff from the ‘net… just keep an eye on the bin of $5 DVD Redbox/whatever rental movies at the grocery store. Now the $4 bin because Blu-rays are $6.
I would buy 6 a month on average over 4 years and I’ve had so far, 2 bad discs with obviously bad scratches that were easy to return for a different copy. Plus many that look brand new and untouched by a human. Along with a handful of discs that look good but will not play through, which may be a problem with my player. I could try the bad discs in my computer but why? I’m not going to sit in from of a little 24″ screen when I have 55″ and RumbleRama [1] in the living room.
[1] From the movie Matinee. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107529/ I have the LaserDisc.
Plenty of “I ain’t watching this again, into the Pile o’ Stuff for the Library Thrift Shop. Uh, I have about 60 more to watch, so….
I have a fully licensed version of Workstation 12.0 Pro installed but it will not launch from the Mint menu, the Desktop or the command line. Strange. It’ll act like it’s gonna start and then nothing. No response thus fah from the VMware “community.”
dmesg doesn’t have anything?
Try starting from the command line with strace:
$ strace [prog name]
(Be prepared for lots of text output)
Otherwise, step back one OS release and see if it runs on Linux Mint 17.3.
My only copy of VMware runs on my Mac. The problems smells like a systemd issue.
Quick IT question for anyone familiar with VMware running on Linux:
BTW, once upon a time, while working for that telephone company with the Death Star logo, I taught Al Jazeera about using VMware on Mac to run NetClient VPN. That was a surreal conference call, but their IT people were sharp — no Indians!
From the “Boondoggle of the Century” Department:
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-bullet-cost-overruns-20170106-story.html
A lot of progs were grumpy when when the current FL governor turned down the Fed money for a similar project to run from Tampa to Orlando. Meanwhile, private money is going to run a line using slower trains from Orlando to Miami with the first leg opening this year.
http://allaboardflorida.com/
What’s the fascination with progs and bullet trains?
They’re “Euro” and thus uber desirable. And after all, it’s just [someone else’s] money.
n
Good outcome in this case, but again the slippery slope. WTF did they run “facial recognition” against passport photos?
“WalMart worker wanted for the abduction and rape of a girl, 10, stole the identity of a dead car crash victim and went on the run for 17 years until facial recognition technology finally nabbed him
Charles Hollin, 61, was found in Salem, Oregon, living as Andrew David Hall
Facial recognition of his passport photo allowed police to track him down
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4118866/Feds-Indiana-fugitive-lived-16-years-crash-victims-ID.html”
n
“What’s the fascination with progs and bullet trains?”
Because bullet trains are unicornian in nature and exist without consequence (financial or otherwise) = magical.
Me not so lurking now. Greetings!
They made me take my specs off when I renewed my Enhanced driver’s license the last time; and it’s for their facial recognition gizmos. Slippery slope indeed.
@Mr. Greg Norton; thanks for the suggestions. I did indeed generate a slew of text and I’ll take a good look at it all tomorrow before I regress to an earlier Mint. Actually I just wanna see if I can make it work OK on Linux (like it’s supposed to) and don’t really need it on this machine. It’s for either the CentOS or RHEL server I’m gonna build for the attic workspace/business.
Yes, I just spent seven hours of the day with tee-vee sportsball. And the Patriots hadda work a lot harder than I woulda expected against the Houston Texans. It was old home day for Vince Wilfork, lotsa hugs with his former Pats teammates and coaches. He is enormous. I wouldn’t care to piss him off unless I had a small artillery piece and I was a hundred yards away. The team has him at 325 but that’s bullshit; he’s around 375. And over six feet.
And yeah, I’ll waste another seven hours of my life tomorrow with sportsball.
Mrs. OFD is trying to shake off the nasty week-long cold she’s had, lotta coughing and congestion and feverish chills and heat. I’ve been taking mega-doses of C and have kept it limited to a mild nose-and-throat deal so far. But the back pain seems to have migrated to the back tendons of my legs, and I gotta contact my primary care MD again and see what the next step could be, as I also work at getting a bit of weight off.
Pax vobicscum
[snip] (Be prepared for lots of text output) [snip]
Shouldn’t you send that output to a text file with {redirect symbol, a/k/a greater than} foobar.txt ?
Yeah, I did that and I’ll print it tomorrow when I won’t be waking up wifey, who is snoring her tookus off right now just down the hall.
More hate and bigotry for your Sunday morning coffee hour:
https://virginiafreemen.com/2017/01/14/buzzfeed-buddy-and-the-shifting-human-terrain/
Anyone wanna move to Chicago?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-15/obama's-legacy-of-hope-and-despair-in-chicago/8183350
And the Patriots hadda work a lot harder than I woulda expected against the Houston Texans. It was old home day for Vince Wilfork, lotsa hugs with his former Pats teammates and coaches. He is enormous. I wouldn’t care to piss him off unless I had a small artillery piece and I was a hundred yards away. The team has him at 325 but that’s bullshit; he’s around 375. And over six feet.
The Texans have an awesome defense, even with JJ Watt on IR. The offense sucks though.
Wilfork is 6’2″ according to the intertubes. That is a 425 lb man. And I’ll bet that he still runs a flat 5 second 40 yard dash. He sacked the Raiders rookie quarterback last week by jumping on him and riding him like a pony to the ground. You could not see the dude under him.
Just talked to me mum. She another chemo last week and is doing well. According to her. She is real weak according to my son who had dinner with the ‘rents afterwards.
They made me take my specs off when I renewed my Enhanced driver’s license the last time; and it’s for their facial recognition gizmos. Slippery slope indeed.
They’ve been doing that here in The Great State of Texas for ten years now. They have not reshot me since ten years ago though, just letting me renew online. I guess that I slipped through since they have not come to pick me up.
Mrs. OFD is trying to shake off the nasty week-long cold she’s had, lotta coughing and congestion and feverish chills and heat.
Mrs. Lynn (most people call her Pam) and I have gotten that crap too. Just about everyone I know has gotten a piece of that action. Takes about three weeks to totally get over it.
Not me. I’m even reluctant to go visit the Museum of Science and Industry.
Leaving the land of Disney today. Dropping the former exchange student off at the airport then heading to Atlanta to spend the night with friends.
Observations about the Orlando area, your fucking toll roads suck. Make one wrong turn and now you are out another couple of bucks to get off at the next exit. The toll roads were designed to scam tourists. Will pay the toll when I leave as I tried doing the trip north without the tolls and it was a slow trip with lots of stops.
Also observed in The Magic Kingdom that there were very few blacks. A lot of orientals shoving their way everywhere. I guess that is how they are used to living. Big crowds even in the off season. Massive amounts of strollers and those go-carts for the old and fat who will run you down like a dog. Why an adult would bring a one year old to such a place is beyond my thinking. Tough on the family and others when the kid starts screaming.
Animal Kingdom was quite good, not so crowded. Not as hyped as Magic Kingdom I guess. Stayed in the Animal Kingdom Lodge and that is a really nice (expensive) place. But with the convenience, environment, etc. I would do it again.
Hats off to Disney. They do it right. From the infrastructure to the environment, to the services, to the convenience.
Universal Studios was OK. Exchange student wanted to see the Harry Potter stuff so we did. I have been several times and just went along to provide the funding.
I had a look at the prices, yeah – expensive. The thing that got me was that the prices didn’t include tax. I assume you have to pay that so why not just fold it in?
It’s for either the CentOS or RHEL server I’m gonna build for the attic workspace/business.
If all else fails, CentOS/RHEL 6 and 7 run really well under Virtual Box. Getting the guest OS drivers compiled/installed can be a bit of a chore, but the process is straightforward.
As a guest OS in VMware, CentOS/RHEL 7 will want a hefty CPU if you install with a GUI. Make sure the host is early i-series (i3, i5, i7) at a minimum.
BTW, it looks like IBM and Death Star Telephone have finally killed the Linux NetClient with a change in CA certificates. The fix is simple, but TPTB have wanted that software to go away since before I left.
a simple fact, there is no railway project around the world (including US) wo public money, implicit or explicit since Stepehenson or Watt (look at UK Naval Yard for support in 1800)
It seems that, in the end, all the novelties begin with public money, and, in a sense, the thing is how sophisticated are the developers to doesn’t seem free riders.
I can’t locate a single example, just one, on the contrary.
So, the question is bullet vs conventional how much each of these request of public money, implicit or explicit
@ayj- I read that there is only one train in the world that is self supporting and it is a train between the mainland and Macao? Anyway, it was a train that supplies asian gamblers to a casino. It is also not a cheap ticket.
@ray, sorry, I forgot your trip was so soon. Sounds like you managed without too much trouble. The toll thing got me too. The rental cars use a system that costs per day once it’s activated, based on license plate readers, and I went thru the wrong lane. Due to bad advice from the rental agent and confusing signs, my “toll service” was active for all the rest of my stay, even though the car was parked for 5 days. AND I got one extra toll too.
We’ve never stayed at AK lodge but we usually visit there on every trip. It is beautiful and has two great bars, and a fantastic restaurant. I hope you had a chance to go on the back porch at night and use the free night vision to see some animals?
I noticed the same thing about the crowd demographics. Blacks were rare enough that seeing one, especially in ghetto high fashion, was jarring. Maybe it is different when school’s out. I never remember lots of blacks though. Most of the blacks you do see look like they are solid citizens and can afford the price. Busch Gardens and Universal were another story.
I noticed a bunch of younger asians were using separate cameras. I know the old cliche’, but modern asia practically invented the smartphone selfie. I think it was a deliberate style or subculture thing. I’m not adept at reading asian styles, but if I saw it on a hipster, I’d have put it down to that subculture. It had the vibe of being part of the dress and uniform….
The scooters are an issue both in the parks and waiting for transportation. Disney keeps evolving to deal with it and it is better than a couple of years ago. It does make it possible for my 83 yo father to accompany us and keep up. I’ll make the observation that if you are too fat to get around on your feet, and you sit in the chair, you are unlikely to ever get out…
n
I did a coach tour of Ireland in 1993. Never seen so many people with one foot in the grave. Americans, of course. Not fat, just very old and worn out. No scooters, just support from late middle aged friends and relatives.
What’s the fascination with progs and bullet trains?
In California it’s all about support for the Democratic party. Labor unions are beholden to the dems for $$$ for big project government jobs. You know, those with prevailing wage and huge overruns. In return the labor unions funnel $$$ back to the dems. Not their only source of support and big bucks but major nonetheless.
Next up Moonbeam really wants the Delta Tunnels. A ridiculous plan for moving water south under the Sacramento/San Joaquin river delta. Save the Smelt!
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-leslie-costs-and-benefits-delta-tunnel-20161120-story.html
You won’t catch me dead in an amusement park like those described, on any organized tours anywhere, or on a cruise ship. Not in a million years. But that’s just me; our kids are long since grown, and they make take their kids to that stuff but that’s pretty much in line with their other practices with the kids, i.e., rooms full of toyz at Xmas and on birthdays, a new iPhone 7 for the 7-year-old this past Xmas, etc.
And to be fair, I have a tendency to, as we say in the PTSD biz, isolate myself. Thus mote it be, but it only makes sense these days to avoid cities and crowds and “events.”
If possible.
The tolerant left is using death threats to bully performers into avoiding the Inaugural.
What lovely people, we should be ruled by them. ‘Cuz I LOVE the idea that if I don’t do what they want, they’ll KILL ME.
n
We outnumber the “tolerant left” by BOOM and are armed to the teeth out here. Why do we tolerate them?
Hey dave, since you mentioned it, what is the treatment for PTSD? Just talk?
n
“Why do we tolerate them?”
Because despite their protestation and projection, we are actually the tolerant ones, and the ‘cost’ of not tolerating them was more than we wanted to spend. Both of those things are subject to change, and they are likely to change rapidly, leaving the left going “what happened?” Call it ‘punctuated equilibrium.’ or call it “he just snapped’ but at some point people will have just had enough.
nick
[I’m amazed at people’s ability to put up with stuff. Without the gradual drop by drop, it would have happened long ago.]
Do you mean the most common treatment or the most effective (or least ineffective)? I think for the former, it’s alcohol, drugs, and repeated marriage and divorce. For the latter, I think what’s most effective varies with the person – just talking, some kind of occupational therapy, possibly medication.
I’ve tried the “self medication” route, and acknowledge that it is slow suicide by lifestyle. When you stop hating your life (or parts of it anyway) it’s a lot easier to stop the self abuse.
I’m generally skeptical of just talking it out as a healing strategy.
Not super concerned in any case, but I’m beginning to face the fact there is something besides righteous anger to my 9-11 reactions. My exposure was very mild compared to people who were onsite or resident in the city, so any reaction this much later seems quite out of proportion to the exposure (and more than a bit whiny.)
I just can’t really picture anything effective, except the closure that seeing my enemies destroyed would bring.
nick
“Hey dave, since you mentioned it, what is the treatment for PTSD? Just talk?”
It depends. Talk plays a large role throughout, based on how bad the person’s PTSD might be, ranging from mild and just needing a bit of friendly support on through severe catatonic crisis, where the patient is a “vegetable.” We’ve had two younger Middle East guys come in with the latter symptoms and they had to be brought in and it’s since taken them ten-plus years to get more or less functional and able to drive cars, hold a job, and take classes at the local colleges.
And PTSD can cover a wide range of symptoms and treatments; drugs have been used to varying effects in the past and sometimes that’s all that works, again, depending on severity and behavior. There are guys still more or less locked up because they can’t, for the foreseeable foture, make it outside yet, or ever.
I’d guess that I fit somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, and I was told the other day by someone who knows whereof he speaks that I have “chronic and severe” PTSD, but exhibit a high degree of functionality, especially since ditching the booze eight years ago.
My treatment involved no drugs, but a lot of talk, and in the main, the most fruitful results have come, and other combats vets may tell you this, from talking with other combat vets, over a period of years. I also went through CPT, or “Cognitive Processing Therapy,” and that helped somewhat. It has not helped a couple of other guys and there are more people who won’t even try it, because the mental and emotional hazards of bringing up really bad memories they’ve hitherto suppressed are just too great. It sucked for me but I made it through OK, last year.
A country/society needs to grok that it cannot send teenagers into ferocious combat situations in foreign countries and expect them to come back the same human beings as when they left. Not gonna happen. The only guys who dig the combat and the killing are psychopaths already, or they were latent psychos. Some of them get weeded out and others go into spec ops roles if they make it through the training.
And as usual, I see Mr. SteveF has summarized it all nicely. Yeah, I and a lot of other guys went for the first “treatment;” dope, booze, marriages and divorces and broken families. One jarhead in our group was married six times and also did several prison sentences. As did both of his jarhead sons, all three of them drug addicts and dealers at one time or another. Another guy made it back OK, more or less, but his wife left him and he raised his two sons alone; now they’re gone and he’s completely alone and depressed and has had heart surgery and other chit go wrong medically. At least three or four guys in our group have been and/or are, suicidal.
I hope that sheds a bit of dim light on the PTSD thing at least as it pertains to Murkan combat vets of the last 80 years or so.
“My exposure was very mild compared to people who were onsite or resident in the city, so any reaction this much later seems quite out of proportion to the exposure (and more than a bit whiny.)”
Nope. Don’t think that. Everybody is different. It may well take many years for symptoms to manifest themselves; as I’ve mentioned here before, we see WWII vets come in sometimes who’ve very successfully smothered their badthink and memories for 70 years and suddenly their kids and grandkids ain’t around and they’re long since retired and now have shitloads of time on their hands to think about stuff. I’ve seen them break down in tears at age 90.
Everyone’s reactions are different; if you have the classic PTSD symptoms showing up or getting stronger 16 years after 9/11, that is by no means unusual. You may well benefit from talking with other 9/11 survivors, and you can always contact an old schmuck like me, through here or RBT.
Hey, Dwight. Welcome, and we’ll look forward to hearing from you regularly now that you’ve de-lurked. The more, the merrier.
Hey dave, since you mentioned it, what is the treatment for PTSD? Just talk?
A couple of relatives had it. My uncle came back from WWII with it, spent a year lazing on the couch, then went to college. Scotch helped. A cousin came back from WWII with his IQ cut quite a bit. Was high school valedictorian, enlisted May after Pearl Harbor served in the Big Red 1. A nephew was in Afghanistan, one of the first Marines into Kabul. He did some talk therapy and drugs. VA was little help.
As I have mentioned before, my dad couldn’t talk about his experiences in WWII without breaking down. He was a surgical assistant on a hospital ship in the Pacific for a while, then at a Navy hospital for a year after the war.
A story I heard was that the shoot for It’s a Wonderful Life was not a happy one. Jimmy Stewart had commanded a B-24 squadron in Europe and led missions over Germany and France. He came back with severe PTSD. He couldn’t get roles (after winning an Oscar only months before he enlisted) and took this one in desperation. He had continuing nightmares, got the shakes at times, and had some hearing loss. George Bailey’s desperation was a mirror of his.
My own experience with PTSD, primarily from childhood trauma, but aided and abetted by (non-combat) military experience and entry-level LE and security work has been same as the above, now on 4th marriage, fortunately no kids to fuck up. Anti-anxiety meds and much talk with a really good counselor has made it possible for me to be ‘functional’ (for values of) but at least the self-destructive behavior is mostly behind me.
Thanks for sharing guys, I appreciate it.
n
@Mr. ech; You no doubt have heard of “secondary PTSD,” but if not, and if you experience symptoms, that could be a cause, over and above any other such experience you may have had.
There are others here, including me, whose dads, uncles, grandfathers, brothers, sons or daughters have come back with PTSD and it tends to hit everyone else, to varying degrees. It’s obvious to me by now that my dad and grandfathers and uncle had it. And that I merrily passed it on to my wife and kids.
Best wishes to Mr. Nick and Mr. Gavin; anyone here or lurking is more than welcome to contact your humble and afflicted northern correspondent anytime for whatever reason.