Cold and clear, but damp. [50F and 80%RH at 9am]
Yesterday stayed cold but did get a clear blue sky for most of the day. I spent the afternoon running around.
Today, I’ve got a basketball game, housework, yard work, and I’m meeting a guy to finish an ebay sale.
So, busy like normal.
Meanwhile, the virus never sleeps. CDC is prepping the battlespace with their assurances that more WuFlu is coming to America. They have started national surveillance using the existing flu network (to find it when it breaks out), and they are reviewing existing plans for pandemic. They talked about shifting from containment to mitigation (when it gets out into the community)… and the economic effects are starting to be felt around the world.
China is going full totalitarian in their response. Lots of video getting out as people start getting desperate and seem to be saying “F it, I’m telling the world.” And still, where are all the people? Also, Don’t give up your guns.
There may be Sweet and Sour Sicken in the wild in Hawaii. There is a report that a japanese man is confirmed to have it, but never went to China, only Hawaii. Lots of asians vacation in Hawaii. Sort of tellingly, none of the new CDC surveillance efforts are in Hawaii….
And there was no further info about the planes that were intercepted in Heathrow…
Take this seriously folks. You might find you REALLY need to stay home for a month or two. We’ll have some more time, and there will be more to confirm it’s heading in that direction, but if you wait too long, all the good stuff will be gone. Like masks. Get your prescriptions filled. Get some OTC remedies for the ordinary stuff you WON”T be going to the ER or Urgent Care for when it’s full of sick people. Go through your medicine cabinet and see what you might actually have left over… build off that.
Yeah I know, zerohedge is doomer pron… I’ve lived here XX years and never evacuated before… the weather liars always get it wrong… you’ve been in full on sky is falling before and nothing came of it………..
Doesn’t mean that this isn’t really bad.
Keep stacking.
n
Quoth Ray:
Proof? Why would Tidepod Evita need to show proof? She’s got feelz.
Yeah I know, zerohedge is doomer pron… I’ve lived here XX years and never evacuated before… the weather liars always get it wrong… you’ve been in full on sky is falling before and nothing came of it………..
Kunstler is worse, but both sites have decent information.
The Tyler Durden byline in particular on ZeroHedge is worth paying attention to since, absent other attribution, it is often material from mainstream reporters who don’t wish to be on the record. Kinda like an “Alan Smithee” film back in the day.
As our late host pointed out on numerous occasions, the US has the potential to get by without China but not vice versa. It would still be painful, especially after the last 20 years of offshoring the supply chain. And people at the big companies will have to once again do real work beyond driving spreadsheets.
The US will be bringing the plague ship passengers home.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8006849/US-prepares-evacuate-428-Americans-quarantined-Diamond-Princess-cruise-ship.html
The ship that finally docked in Cambodia is in fact a plague ship, with 144 possible vectors scattering to the wind…
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/another-nightmare-sea-first-covid-19-case-detected-aboard-cruise-ship-given-safe
n
Re: Costco canned chicken. That’s one of my favorite lunches. I dump a can into a Tupperware container, dump in half a can of diced tomatoes, some shredded cheese, jalapeños, and some hot salsa. Microwaves at work for 2 minutes. I also use Walmart’s great value branded chicken.
As our late host pointed out on numerous occasions, the US has the potential to get by without China but not vice versa. It would still be painful, especially after the last 20 years of offshoring the supply chain. And people at the big companies will have to once again do real work beyond driving spreadsheets.
I forgot to mention that the “Work” From Home mafia dominating large companies in the US. That will have to go also.
My former partner at the Death Star spent the better part of the last decade “working” from home in Colorado (smoking weed) until even he realized it was a crock and returned to a real job in an office.
Here’s something even more terrifying than the coronavirus:
Mike Bloomberg ‘is considering picking Hillary Clinton as his running mate in the 2020 Democratic race to help take on Trump’
Here’s something even more terrifying than the coronavirus:
Mike Bloomberg ‘is considering picking Hillary Clinton as his running mate in the 2020 Democratic race to help take on Trump’
Bloomberg has to win a primary first unless he is planning to run as an independent.
If he runs as an independent, Cankles won’t help him, and he’ll end up splitting the Dem vote.
I still think Robert Francis is part of the Electoral College calculus. The Dems need either FL or TX, and they don’t have anyone with state-wide appeal currently in office in Florida.
That reminds me — I need to keep an eye on the Texas Primary date. Our stiff Congresscritter beat “Doors”, but it was close. Now, even people in his own party see him as vulnerable.
Presented without further comment except to say that I’m voting for the incumbent:
https://www.abhiram.us/
@Ray
I’ve been happy with the cataract replacement surgery I got on your recommendation some 3 years ago. Wish I hadn’t gotten the UV protection ’cause the slight yellow tint of the lenses screwed my color perception (nb for anyone considering same).
Had a YAG laser capsulotomy done yesterday to bore through the opacity which is a frequent sequel tocataract surgery. Dead simple and the vision is OMG so much better. BUT…
Now the floaters are bugging the hell out of me: I’m swatting at imaginary flies! Maybe my brain will learn to ignore them but I’m wondering if that isn’t why you had your vitreous humor replaced? They were present in one eye prior to the capsulotomy, but I ignored them, much as I tended to ignore the whole eye. I’ll see the doc again in two weeks.
Anyway, got any thoughts or observations in re floaters? I probably would have held off on the cataract surgery itself if not for your wholehearted endorsement, so I’ll just say thanks again and repeat what you said, “Just go do it. You’ll wish you’d done it sooner!”
Anyway, got any thoughts or observations in re floaters? I probably would have held off on the cataract surgery itself if not for your wholehearted endorsement, so I’ll just say thanks again and repeat what you said, “Just go do it. You’ll wish you’d done it sooner!”
I am dealing with extreme floaters for about 6 or 7 years now. First the right eye which has a floater three times the size of the lens (can and frequently obscures the entire lens). Now the left eye which has floaters in it about 1/10th the size of the lens.
I went and saw a retina specialist. He told me that the eye sack detaches from the eye socket starting at age 50 and completes at age 60. The floaters are pieces of blood and skin from the detaching process. He told me to not have the vitriol fluid replacement until the process has completed at age 60 since the floaters could reappear.
I saw my eye doctor after this (a real doc who does cataract surgery and more). He told me that one cannot have cataract lens replacement within 10 years of the vitriol fluid replacement as it makes the new lens unstable. This is the only time that he has had the lens replacement fail. He was quite serious.
So, I am waiting on my lens to be replaced before I do anything about the floaters. The floaters made me crazy at first but I have gotten used to them. Kinda. BTW, floaters are endemic to computer programmers, go figure.
Well the goobernor of OR wants WA State to remove all dams on the Snake River in WA State in order to “save the salmon”. Her arguments are not only based on non-facts but they are facetious. Of course, our “liberal” (socialist) goobernor and the West Side Whack-A-Doos just may be foolish enough to do it. Disregard the flooding, power generation, and irrigation and the fact that the amount of salmon being counted leaving is at a record level. The salmon are disappearing once they get to the ocean and not by global climate whatever. It is the overfishing that is occurring just outside of our boundaries being done by Pacific Rim countries that are not the USofA.
In other news, the nuclear power company formally know as Whoops is proposing to build/install several already approved Nuclear Power Modules next to the current plant on the Hanford Reservation. They could be up and running in less than 5-years, more likely 2. It makes too much sense. What we need to do is stop exporting our hydro and nuclear power and see how people like living in the dark.
No, the reason I need the vitrectomy was because a blood vessel ruptured in one eye. The result was thousand, maybe millions, of tiny spots regardless of where I looked. My retina surgeon also said that extremely nearsighted people have issues with the retina tearing when the vitreous fluid thickens with age. The solution to both problems was to replace the vitreous fluid and laser the retina to keep the retina attached.
The rupturing of the blood vessel was a precursor to more serious problems if not addressed quickly. When I visited my eye doctor on Monday (the break happened on Friday) resulted in an immediate referral to the retina surgeon. I also got chewed out by my doctor as what happened to me was considered an emergency. I should have gone to the hospital and had my eye doctor called in on the weeked. Some serious shirt(-r) apparently.
One eye was done one day, an air bubble inserted. The next day the retina was lasered. That lasering was really annoying. A snap in the brain every time that laser fired. Very uncomfortable. A month later the other eye had the victrectomy with the lasering done after the victromey. I was awake for the victrectomy and put under for the lasering. Much more comfortable. No air bubble for that eye.
They inserted an IV before each procedure. Knocked me out to deaden the nerve behind the eye. I was then woke up for that actual victrectomy so that I could watch the tools being inserted and the insides sucked. Sounds worse than it actually is being really quite trivial.
That was never offered to me. Maybe did not exist 10+ years ago. I did have corrective lenses. I also explained that color accuracy was important so the surgeon never considered the option. I would think over time your brain will adjust, same as it did for the discoloration due to the cataracts.
My issue was just the opposite. The replacement of the vitreous fluid has a side effect of cataracts. That is indeed what happened. Six months after the vitrectomy I developed cataracts in both eyes. Not major at that point but needed to be addressed soon.
That has been done in both eyes. No discomfort, really trivial. Side effect though is starring of bright spots of light at night. I have learned to adjust and ignore.
Over the last 20 years I have had multiple eye procedures, cataracts in the same eye twice due to faulty correction from the first lens.
Again, my advice to anyone needing eye procedures, cataract, vitrectomy, lasering, etc. get it done as soon as recommended. The success rate is extremely high, the procedures well known, the results remarkable.
Thanks Ray.
I too am/was extremely myopic and from what I’ve read retinal detachment is far more common with us, with or, in your case, WITHOUT any procedure. So I’m, ahem, keeping an eye peeled for any untoward symptoms since early detection and repair is essential to a good outcome.
*******
And now for something completely different…
I downloaded and installed the APK for Kindle Lite 1.12 (available through Google Play only in India, but the apk is out there). Jeez, what a relief. No gewgaws, x-rays, flashcards or other BS. Plays nice (co-exists) with the current bloatware that’s the current Kindle app. It’s got the usual shopping on your default Amazon acct, bookmarks, Whispersync, and that’s it.
Only drawbacks I’ve seen so far are no landscape orientation (which doesn’t make sense for a smartphone), and the dark theme doesn’t work.
Well the goobernor of OR wants WA State to remove all dams on the Snake River in WA State in order to “save the salmon”. Her arguments are not only based on non-facts but they are facetious. Of course, our “liberal” (socialist) goobernor and the West Side Whack-A-Doos just may be foolish enough to do it
Jay Inslee was Costco’s chore boy for liquor deregulation. He doesn’t know what to do for an encore, but he’s running for yet another term.
Where I work, we knew Inslee had pulled the plug on his Presidential campaign about 24 hours ahead of the announcement. We have equipment on the Viaduct replacement tunnel, and we got a phone call that the system was going to start billing.
At least he was qualified on paper to be Governor. Kathleen Brown is an outright Socialist with sketchy qualifications who never would have been elected Governor in Oregon if Kitzhaber hadn’t stepped down right after his swearing in for a second term.
Sooner or later, I believe that kharma will catch up with Kitzhaber and he is going to be sporting those fancy blazers with an orange jumpsuit rather than the jeans which are his trademark.
I downloaded and installed the APK for Kindle Lite 1.12 (available through Google Play only in India, but the apk is out there). Jeez, what a relief. No gewgaws, x-rays, flashcards or other BS. Plays nice (co-exists) with the current bloatware that’s the current Kindle app. It’s got the usual shopping on your default Amazon acct, bookmarks, Whispersync, and that’s it.
Raccoon will obtain APKs directly from the app store via an emulation of the Google Play store app, but the developer is in an arms race with Google so it is hit or miss whether any given version of the program works. Ususally, however, within a few weeks, a new version shows up and works fine.
I don’t trust sideloading APKs obtained elsewhere beyond Firefox, VLC, and Signal, and those I only install APKs obtained directly from the developers’ web sites.
Kindle Lite 1.12 (available through Google Play only in India, but the apk is out there). Jeez, what a relief. No gewgaws, x-rays, flashcards or other BS. Plays nice (co-exists) with the current bloatware that’s the current Kindle app. It’s got the usual shopping on your default Amazon acct, bookmarks, Whispersync, and that’s it.
What is an APK ?
Thankfully, not coming soon (or hopefully ever) to a neighborhood like yours:
Team Trump just called a halt to the Obama-era war on American suburbs
We have about 6 to 8 weeks food and other provisions. In a likely WuFlu scenario (in my mind) we will still have natural gas, running water, and probably electricity. With natural gas I can make all the electricity we need. I do need to up my water storage. A local is advertising 330 gallon containers for $50 each. He says they were originally filled with cooking oil. I am concerned about cleaning them good enough for potable water storage. An alternative is plastic 55 gallon drums. The wife pointed out these are easier to manage and can hold a bladder so cleaning isn’t as big an issue. Back at the old house we had accumulated almost a year basic foods storage but by the move about half of it was hitting its reasonable life span so I planned to bring the LTS stuff and rebuild storage a little at a time. This is a damned inconvenient time for a SHTF event. Oh well you fight disasters with the pantry you have not the one you want. At least I am well stocked in the armory department.
@harold,
I’ve got some 100L (40gal) stainless steel barrels that I got from a neighbor. They were used to transport olive oil. VERY nice as they even have plumbing for a spigot at the bottom. HOWEVER. Getting the oil out was hard. REALLY HARD. And after the first year, there was still oil in the seam and edges. I used an industrial degreaser (orange based) scrub brushes, bleach, dawn, and I thought I got it all. I didn’t. When I opened the barrel there was still oil floating on the water. I plan to use my filter with the water anyway, and the olive oil isn’t a worry from a health pov.
One other issue is that the steel cans sweat with condensation in my garage. The rodents found that to be a nice source of water. I wouldn’t do it again, but I’m not giving up the 4 I have either.
I am leaning toward 30gal barrels vs 55 gallon. It’s almost impossible to move a 55 gallon drum, but you can move a 30 with a hand truck. Uline has some nice 30 gallon barrels. You want a removable top to facilitate cleaning.
I haven’t tried it, but I also suspect food grade 5 gal buckets would be fine, and a top with a pour spout would be a nice touch. I have found that when stacking buckets, sometimes the weight will shear the top down into the lower bucket over time. The lids are not super strong, especially the ones meant to be easier to remove.
I’ve got aquatainers, and they work well, but don’t stack. The spigots break off too. Don’t leave them in the sun or they will become brittle and crack.
I’ve got a 225 gallon rotomolded poly tank as part of my “rainwater” system. I let it fill, settle, and then I treated it with bleach. It’s been clear for a couple of years. I plan to use the filter with it anyway. The rain barrel and the two 55 gal barrels used for rainwater collection will provide flushing water, and can be filtered if needed.
n
Harold, if the electric grid goes down, so does nat gas in many areas. I believe it was Lynn who first said that. Seems there were “incentives” for the gas companies to replace IC engines with electric motors to power their compressors.
I once wanted to extend gas to my homesite, but am now considering other alternatives.
What is an APK ?
An APK is the install package for the Android platform, similar to the MSI on Windows or RPM on RHEL flavors of Linux.
Android isn’t as locked down as iOS so it is possible to “side load” apps outside of the Google Play store. That is both good and bad.
Harold, if the electric grid goes down, so does nat gas in many areas. I believe it was Lynn who first said that. Seems there were “incentives” for the gas companies to replace IC engines with electric motors to power their compressors.
The problem is if your area is an emissions non-attainment area such as the nine county Houston region or the Los Angeles area. Any new combustion equipment that generates nitrous oxide (gas turbines !) must meet almost unobtainable emission standards.
The legal term in the Clean Air Act is BACT (Best Available Control Technology). BACT used to interpreted as only a solution that would last for 3 to 5 years without significant rebuild and overhaul. Through illegitimate court cases, BACT has been reinterpreted to mean 30 days or less. That means emissions equipment running in series and parallel with total online backups. Incredibly expensive. So all new prime drivers in the last 30 years have used electric motors instead of gas turbines in the emissions non-attainment areas.
“So all new prime drivers in the last 30 years have used electric motors instead of gas turbines in the emissions non-attainment areas. ”
–which reduced resilience dramatically, while providing only imaginary benefits
n
An APK is the install package for the Android platform, similar to the MSI on Windows or RPM on RHEL flavors of Linux.
Android isn’t as locked down as iOS so it is possible to “side load” apps outside of the Google Play store. That is both good and bad.
Wow, I did not know that.
Thanks, Lynn. Also worth mentioning is that nat gas is shut down during disasters, just when we might want to depend on it. This seems to be happening more often, and for more trivial reasons.
A couple friends have added large propane tanks as a precaution. Propane is a versatile fuel, and unlike diesel, keeps practically forever.
Another alternative is battery backed solar that is capable of off grid operation. I live in one of the sunniest places in the US, but with the plummeting cost of PV panels, many less sunny locations can use it. The inverters, charge controllers, and batteries are not getting much cheaper, however.
All of this costs more than stored food and water, but can give peace of mind.