Cooler. Still damp. Still sunny. 44F and 99%RH at 6am.
It was a very pleasant day yesterday, with some light wind, and not a drop of rain. Humid, yes. But with the help of the industrial floor dryer, I got the pool liner dried out and rolled up.
Did some minimal leaf blowing and raking then realized I’d have all day at home today to do that. So I stopped. Did an auction pickup. Dropped off a few smalls for my other local auction.
Ate my orange from my very own tree for breakfast. It was good. Not as sweet yet as store bought, but still good. Did I already mention that? Can’t remember.
Not feeling particularly well. Coughing, stuffed up head, sore eyes, mild headache coming and going. Feeling ‘half a bubble off’ all day. Bumping into things with my legs, stumbling. Bit of sharpness in my upper lungs. Sore throat. No fever and I can still smell and taste. So I tried to find a quick test place yesterday. There used to be at least three in the area I was in. Not any more. Big upswing in cases, EVERYONE saying “get tested” and at least 3 local test sites are shut down. Bugger me. I need a rapid result too, because I’m supposed to leave for Florida on Friday. And that’s a whole ‘nuther ball o wax…
I’ll try again today. I might have to try researching first.
I’m definitely trying the “more sleep” approach, if even for just an extra hour. So I’m going to hit “save” on this post and hit the hay.
The ‘prudent’ buying is sweeping the nation again. Maybe ‘prudent’ isn’t quite right, ‘understandable’ or ‘sensible’ might be better. In any case, if you are going into a lock down of unknown length it makes perfect sense to buy a bit more than you normally do, when you can pop down to the store at any time. Doesn’t take too many ‘bit more’ s to strip the shelves. It’s not like they stack the stuff to the ceilings, and it’s still delivered ‘just in time’. Or more likely, ‘too little too late’.
Which is why we prep -so we don’t have to worry about wiping our nethers with the cleaning paper of choice, or with some pages from Green Eggs and Ham…
TP isn’t the only thing that will be in short supply soon. Stack it high.
nick
Out of an abundance of caution, we must not distribute this vaccine until a long-term safety study has been successfully concluded and reviewed.
I’m not particularly concerned about the mRNA vaccine. I won’t be taking it, but I’m not concerned about it causing mutations which will go down through the generations. However, I find it very amusing, in a black humor sense, that “out of an abundance of caution” is always used to prevent ordinary people from doing what they want to, never to prevent a government or connected corporation from possibly screwing over millions of people or the planet as a whole.
A note of thanks to everyone who advised when I asked about playing a Region 2 DVD on my computer… It convnced me to buy Coal House Series 1, even from a UK seller since the listings are nearly all always from the UK, but I found it on Amazon from someone here in the US. When it arrived, I was surprised to find this copy is a USA release, from Dreamscape Media. Apparently Dreamscape released it in 2017 (original series was 2007). And after all this time when I couldn’t find a US version, suddenly today Amazon itself is shipping copies of this Region 1 version!
At any rate, Series 1 is excellent and a good addition to our DVD collection (along with the second one ‘Coal House At War’). The families are good natured, likeable, and stay true to the premise, the editing is well-balanced, and it is very entertaining. So thanks again. Even though this one turned out to be Region 1, next time I want a Region 2 DVD I will not hesitate for years but will go for it!
Congratulations! That’s wonderful. We planted satsumas at our house on the coast but we did not live there long enough for them to bloom or fruit, which still makes me wistful. It would have been nice to have our very own citrus. I hope whoever has the house now is enjoying good fruit.
Fruit trees of any kind seem to require a long investment in time. We see them in pots in the nurseries with blooms and fruit on them, but the nurserymen do not tell us that they’ve been in those pots without roots disturbed for years… and that moving them into the ground will probably mean waiting another four or five years before the trees return to their fruting.
I needed a test a few weeks ago, and at this point it seems they have cut back to only one location per county in our rather rural area. I went out of county to get a quicker appt and shorter wait on arrival. A nursing home told me the government has given them enough tests that they can all do regular tests of residents and staff, with 15 minute results, without having to wait. That’s good news to help nip those nursing home outbreaks before they get out of control.
The initial coding of the Dominion software in the late 1990s ? early 2000s ? was in Venezuela. Looks like the recent changes to the Dominion software were here in the USA by this guy:
The country probably had a real software industry to support the oil fields at a minimum, but anything professional stopped in Venezuela after ~ 2000, following Cavez’ rise to power.
Gosh, the change back to regular time is great. It is 6:45 am and already getting light outside. We make a trip every couple of weeks that requires leaving before 6, and for months we’d drive for two hours in the dark before daylight. Now it is daylight for most of the drive. So much safer since the time change! I found an interesting map that shows why Daylight Saving Time is so disastrous for some areas, while others don’t notice it (scroll down to see the map):
http://andywoodruff.com/blog/where-to-hate-daylight-saving-time-and-where-to-love-it/
re:
So very true.
Why aren’t NG35 masks available? It has been over nine months and there are none for sale on Amazon.
Quote: FDA guidelines: N-95 respirators not for use by the public! Unquote.
Why? These masks should be available by now. And at least as inexpensive as before the WuFlu (COVID-19) break out as they should be in mass production reducing their cost.
Truly unobtainable or unobtainable at what you would consider to be a reasonable price?
The US decided to offshore most of those jobs starting 30 years ago, and 3M has been in trouble for a while. The big 3M campus in Austin is being sold off in pieces and various subsidiaries spun out into separate companies.
We’re reaping what we’ve sewn … and not many Americans are interested in sewing masks when the stimulus unemployment provided the lifestyle of $50k/year without any effort. Biden’s proposed First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit 2.0 with continued easy mortgage money will double or triple the floor currently under the housing market in a lot of areas, and a mask plant job anywhere close to an urban center will be poverty level living.
I view the masks as kabuki and do the minimum required by the swish mayor in Austin and raging hypocrite “Judge” in our county. I’m also careful about when/where I go when I head out to a store after something. If sick people don’t stay home, there isn’t a point to the masks IMHO.
BTW, the RINO “Judge” is history in two years. Wilco Sheriff went Dem already, and MJ Hegar won the county both this year and in 2018 when she ran for Congress.
I found an interesting map that shows why Daylight Saving Time is so disastrous for some areas, while others don’t notice it
North of 45 degrees parallel on the West Coast, Pacific Standard Time all year round would be awful.
And I understand why Florida’s tourism industry wants to move the state an hour ahead permanently.
WRT masks, I haven’t looked at the logistics in a while, but other than the one guy in Texas, all of the production was offshore. The issues with offshore suppliers are still there and medical demand is very high.
I saw some 3m molded two strap masks in one of my auctions this last week. They even sold for a ‘reasonable’ amount in the new reality. I bought a 10 pack of K95 (just as good as N95, we pinkie swear) for 40c/mask which was really cheap. All of the subsequent lots went for more.
So I’d say that either NOS is hitting the market again, as people forget to demonize ‘hoarders’ and ‘price gougers’ and allow sales again, or some production capacity is back online.
With hospitalization in the US 10K higher than at any time in the past, I’d guess that demand is still high and exceeds supply and what I’m seeing for sale is previous production, although it might be that DISTRIBUTION is more even.
Aesop says his hospital is still short PPEs.
n
Don’t you know that sick people have the same right to go out and do their shopping and other tasks as you do. You have to protect yourself from them, they don’t have to protect you from them. Goes the same for people that are afraid of being infected. Their right to go shopping supersedes the rights of others.
Basically no one is willing to stay home. Simple. If infected, stay home. If afraid of infection stay home. That would be much more effective than the use of masks. Yet no one is willing to concede the desire to go shopping and do other public activities.
Should be the same thing for all infectious diseases. But Covid was a more convenient excuse to affect an election and the economy. More people die each year from smoking than will die from Covid. Yet smoking is still allowed.
Idoru in real life.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8959717/Virtual-Instagrammers-work-designer-brands-earn-thousands-day-adored-millions.html
n
“More people die each year from smoking than will die from Covid. Yet smoking is still allowed. ”
-meh, about the same number if you subtract the 10% they add for second hand smoke.
Smoking is very strongly discouraged, with severe limits on where you can do so, under penalty of law.
But the real difference is that smoking takes 40 years to kill you on average, and stopping at any point has benefits. People dying from it today have been making that choice for their whole lives, every day.
So I’m calling Flag on play, false equivalence.
n
Looks like the recent changes to the Dominion software were here in the USA by this guy:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/11/denver-business-owner-dominions-eric-coomer-unhinged-sociopath-internet-profile-deleted-erased-audio/
I gotta wonder how much the guy really knew about writing software vs. how much the company wanted his PhD on the door when trying to land government contracts.
PhD in Physics. You’d be surprised at how many of these guys really know very little about anything beyond Matlab. I interviewed a few this Spring when we did en masse hiring at the last job, and the PhD from the California school was the biggest BS artist.
Of course, management really wanted to hire him regardless, but I worked for … sociopaths!
Fair enough. 15 yard penalty and loss of down.
My point was not so much the cause and effect, it was that people make choices that affect their lives. Knowing the dangers of smoking and still smoking is a choice. Knowing the dangers of Covid and still going shopping is a choice. Knowing the dangers of “Hey, watch this” and still doing “this” is a choice. Life is full of risks, take your choice.
Experienced that while working on the government contract for the Navy in Oak Ridge. Carol Stubbs, PhD in something, was the other programmer on the contract. Everything she said was golden to management. When in fact she was one of the worst programmers I had encountered. Eventually it got to the point where I did all the programming, she did none. Sat in her office and did nothing, drawing twice the salary I was receiving. But management still chose her decisions over mine, most of which I promptly ignored. But the PhD looked good on the contract even though she was worthless.
” But the PhD looked good on the contract even though she was worthless. ”
— this is because of a very common issue. The person writing the check has no other way to evaluate. When I was learning to draft (and I did a lot of drawings back in the day, still have my pen set…) I had a professor strongly suggest that I work on my LETTERING skills, more than my drawing skills. He explained that “the person writing the check doesn’t understand the drawing, but sure can read the lettering.” His point was valid and gets writ large in other fields- lacking understanding of the actual issues, the money guys will go on appearance.
That prof was a working professional and gave me very good advice that has served me well over the years. His style of no BS ground truth gets him a bad review for every good review by his students, F’ing snowflakes.
n
Experienced that while working on the government contract for the Navy in Oak Ridge. Carol Stubbs, PhD in something, was the other programmer on the contract. Everything she said was golden to management. When in fact she was one of the worst programmers I had encountered. Eventually it got to the point where I did all the programming, she did none. Sat in her office and did nothing, drawing twice the salary I was receiving. But management still chose her decisions over mine, most of which I promptly ignored. But the PhD looked good on the contract even though she was worthless.
The last job had a in-person coding test which eliminated most of the pretenders, but standards loosened this Spring in order to try to take advantage of the layoffs at other companies around Austin, particularly National Instruments and Siemens.
Moderna: Our vaccine is 95% effective.
Pfizer: Wait a minute, ours is now 95% effective, too.
How long before Pfizer drops their refrigeration requirement down to Moderna’s?
I don’t know shit about virus vaccine development. How come flu shots are still a crap shoot? How come the Holy Grail of vaccines, that for HIV, is non-existent. Colds, forget it. Is there going to be a new COVID strain next year that requires adjustment to this years vaccine? Free for everybody, right? No, someone is paying for it. I say charge the rest of the World enough to cover the FUSA’s cost. HARRIS/plugs gonna be heroes.
LET THE VACCINE WARS (AND HEALING) BEGIN!
/tinfoil hat
I don’t know shit about virus vaccine development. How come flu shots are still a crap shoot?
Essentially, flu shots are a “best guess” as to what bugs will be running around by the time the serum gets delivered in large enough quantities to make a difference once deployed. The shot vaccinates against multiple strains of flu.
Manufacturing in large quantities at low costs, sufficent so that a CVS or HEB can carry stock for on-demand vaccination priced at ~$20, is no easy task. Compounding the issue is that key component chemicals are no longer manufactured domestically and have to be sourced overseas, mostly from … China!
I doubt Covid will really change the situation much long term. Pfizer, et al still have to answer to Wall Street.
An explanation for why the Democrats won at the top of the ballot, but got slammed downballot from Mickey Kaus, a Democrat who has some substantial agreement with Trump on immigrations. (He’s been calling for better immigration enforcement for years as a way to help the working poor.)
Flu virus has several genetic components that can get swapped around when two strains infect the same animal or human. So, if you get infected by ABCD and WXYZ flu, you could end up producing AXCD or WXCD virus.
The flu virus vaccine is a “best guess” as to what strains will be running around 6 months after they are chosen. The shot usually has 3 or 4 strains in it. It takes months to make, as most is made by manual inoculation of fertilized chicken eggs with a strain of the virus. After some time, the egg is cracked and fluid drawn off. The virus is dead by then and antigens are purified out. This has to be done for each of the strains chosen. Around 500 million eggs are used. There are a couple of non-egg vaccines that are available at higher price and R&D for other techniques are underway.
Via Marginal Revolution an article on the demand for unproven vaccines in mainland China:
Of course it’s the NYT so a spoonful of salt is needed.
An explanation for why the Democrats won at the top of the ballot, but got slammed downballot from Mickey Kaus, a Democrat who has some substantial agreement with Trump on immigrations. (He’s been calling for better immigration enforcement for years as a way to help the working poor.)
Congressional elections come down to pork, and the Dem majority in the House, rebuilding from 2010 through the 2018 mid terms, didn’t deliver as the constituents expected. The Squad survived on orthodoxy alone, but other Congresscritters in districts assumed “safe”, like Donna Shalala in Miami, were booted.
Senate races are more distanced from pork, but that is still a factor.
For the most part, incumbents prevailed down ballot. Arizona was a combined sympathy vote for Gabby Giffords, who arguably would have eventually challenged for that seat if she hadn’t been shot, and Cindy McCain demonstrating her family’s ownership of the chair … for now.
Cindy McCain wanted to teach the national Republican party and her former employee, the Governor, who exactly wielded real power in Arizona. Though waning, owning a controlling interest in the biggest Anheuser Busch distributor in the state does give Mrs. Maverick considerable influence.
Here in Texas, the incumbent was vulnerable, but the Dem challenger wasn’t trusted to deliver, even within her own party, beyond being Dell’s voice in the Senate.
— so people with meaningful exposure to ethnic diversity dislike it… hmm. and bringing in people from low trust societies lowers the trust level in previously high trust societies. whodathunkit?
n
HARRIS/plugs gonna bring back Critical Race Theory to fix and heal us. WHITEY! is inherently raayciss and the root of all problems.
LET THE HEALING BEGIN!
Question for the medically smart people here: why are we not pushing preventive measures for influenza and COVID? Also, for COVID, why are we not treating early and aggressively more than we are?
An example that got me thinking about this is here:
https://hcqtrial.com/
I will admit to only glancing through this, and it would take more time than I have to fully digest it. Who knows? It might just be fake. BUT, I have read similar stories elsewhere, so I doubt all of it is wrong. Side note: I am acting like a good little engineer here; my conclusions are gradually shaped by my exposure to hopefully good material. I am not trying to convince anyone but myself. I read a lot, and keep track only occasionally, hardly rigorous.
Anyhow, part of the answer to the above questions is obvious. The US has always favored a quick fix over good lifestyles. Then, there are patents. Can’t make money pushing vitamins.
Vitamins?!! Yes. I have always been a fan of some vitamins. A few years ago I read that maintaining high enough levels of serum vitamin D actually prevents flu better than the flu vaccine. And, it acts against all flu bugs, not just the special ones that made the vaccine list that season. There are some very credible studies that confirm this. No, I didn’t keep the references, but I only have to convince myself once, until the next discovery.
Of course, those paying attention here have already discovered that vitamin D is also quite effective against COVID. Wow, maybe someone should shout that.
As for aggressively treating COVID infections, some hospitals have done this, and their results have been quite good, especially compared to other hospitals that seem to send patients home, only to have to treat some of them when they get dire. Ask our pres about early and intensive intervention.
Proofreading, maybe I answered my own questions. Maybe they should have been rhetorical. Food for thought. Any insights given serious and respectful consideration. We can overcome this pandemic.
Oof:
NYT: New study finds coronavirus immunity ‘might last years, maybe even decades’
Goobermint ain’t gonna like that if true. Goobermint loses control and fear porn. Must suppress immediately!
LET THE SUPPRESSION BEGIN!
I’ve noticed an increase in personal attacks against trump and family in the press. Distraction or indication that they don’t fear retaliation/fear disapproval or just dogpile on the guy when down?
n
MrAtoz, you’re consistently misquoting President-Elect Biden. He said IT’S TIME TO HEEL.
Yes, yes, very persuasive.
What I’d like to know is, what’s the oh-so-plausible explanation for every oddity and discrepancy and admission of ballot destruction and videod tampering favors Biden? The explanation for Republican poll watchers being ejected while Democrat poll watchers are left on site? The last-minute rule changes which uniformly favor the Democrats?
One side has been obstructing and concealing while the other has been pushing for transparency. Is there a good explanation for this?
Regarding the threatened/promised coming lockdown, riddle me this:
– If the previous lockdown worked, why are we doing it again?
– If the previous lockdown didn’t work, why are we doing it again?
I read a similar comment:
If masks are so effective, why are we screeching about wearing them more?
If masks aren’t effective, why are we screeching about wearing them more?
An Evidence Based Scientific Analysis of Why Masks are Ineffective, Unnecessary, and Harmful
LET THE “HEELING” BEGIN!
Question for the medically smart people here: why are we not pushing preventive measures for influenza and COVID? Also, for COVID, why are we not treating early and aggressively more than we are?
Politics, starting with sick people not required to stay home *by law* as they are with TB. The crisis was an opportunity which the politicians of both parties didn’t want to go to waste, but now that the election is over, the rising case counts will start to work against the election “winners”.
Some doctors are suggesting supplements to patients diagnosed with the bug. My wife does, but I don’t want to cite her here due to liability concerns.
HCQ is a very complex issue. It works *well* for *some* Covid patients, but not everybody. At the same time, however, the government needs to make sure that a supply exists for patients suffering from other conditions for whom the drug is proven effective in *all* cases.
The moment the US Government blesses HCQ for general use with Covid, the medication will be unobtainium in the country, if not globally, similar to what happened to Cipro after 9/11 or Tamiflu during H1N1.
With PlayStation 5 selling for five figure sums on EBay/Amazon, I shudder to think what arbitrage would be on HCQ. As Dr. Pournelle often pointed out, we are moving towards an economy based on opening shipping containers from China. My addendum to that is that, over the last 10 years, we are even outsourcing the work to unload the ship and open the containers, moving offline retail to being the wholesalers, something for which they are not positioned in the supply chain.
Oh, certainly, everyone with SARS Cov2 should be quarantined. That is, everyone with even a single positive test result. Never mind that the false positives outnumber the actual positives. Out of an abundance of caution they must be isolated for their own good.
Same goes for anyone with influenza. The mortality rate is the same, so the response must be the same.
Same for anyone with malaria, adults with chickenpox, anyone with ebola, and especially anyone with HIV. The mortality rate is the same or higher than that for the Chinese Flu, so the response must be the same.
I looked at the analysis that Mr Atoz linked to. There are a few problems:
– the doctor is an Opthamologist, not ID specialist.
– one of the mask studies he links to found some utility in masks. Another linked to had the flaw that while the people studied did wear masks at work, the didn’t at home or in the community, so they could easily have gotten flu there.
– He cited an article on surgeons having lower blood O2 and slightly higher pulse rates while wearing masks. It was non-quantitative, so evaluation is impossible.
– The one on rebreathing CO2 with respirators, not masks, said “Clearly, our findings are of uncertain practical significance … “.
– His citation to CDC IFR is way, way out of date and understates the IFR.
He’s an anti-Vaxxer. So, that means he’s not practicing “evidence based medicine”.
Over The Hedge: Renaming The Apocalypse
https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2020/11/18
Hey, why is Pestilence on the pale horse ?
Thinking about ordering. “Exploring the Unix System”, Jan-1-1848
but $890 is a lot of money and it’s probably out of date.
https://www.amazon.com/Exploring-System-library-Patrick-1992-01-03/dp/B01FEP4HQI/ref=sr_1_12?dchild=1&qid=1605724053&refinements=p_27%3AStephen+Kochan&s=books&sr=1-12&tag=ttgnet-20
Hey, Rush Limbaugh is calling Jack Dorsey, the head of Twitter, a lonely old lighthouse keeper. And Mark Zuckerberg is his robot that he built to have some company.
I looked at the analysis that Mr Atoz linked to. There are a few problems:
– the doctor is an Opthamologist, not ID specialist.
– one of the mask studies he links to found some utility in masks. Another linked to had the flaw that while the people studied did wear masks at work, the didn’t at home or in the community, so they could easily have gotten flu there.
– He cited an article on surgeons having lower blood O2 and slightly higher pulse rates while wearing masks. It was non-quantitative, so evaluation is impossible.
– The one on rebreathing CO2 with respirators, not masks, said “Clearly, our findings are of uncertain practical significance … “.
– His citation to CDC IFR is way, way out of date and understates the IFR.
He’s an anti-Vaxxer. So, that means he’s not practicing “evidence based medicine”.
Is there such a thing as a partial vaxxer ?
Occasionally I see items listed for huge amounts. It would be reasonable to assume that it’s just a typo, but *I* assume money laundering…
n
(if the examples given in the book are jacquard looms and chains of wooden plates with holes in them, you’re probably golden!)
scheduled my rapid wuflu test for tomorrow. Nothing at all available today online, and I’m not inclined to just show up and wait in line…
n
I just hope that we are not going too fast on inoculating the USA population with these. Potential side effects [of an mRNA vaccine, none of which has ever before been approved by the FDA] may take a while to show up.
Out of an abundance of caution, we must not distribute this vaccine until a long-term safety study has been successfully concluded and reviewed.
I’m not particularly concerned about the mRNA vaccine. I won’t be taking it, but I’m not concerned about it causing mutations which will go down through the generations. However, I find it very amusing, in a black humor sense, that “out of an abundance of caution” is always used to prevent ordinary people from doing what they want to, never to prevent a government or connected corporation from possibly screwing over millions of people or the planet as a whole.
So what are you going to do when Cuomo drags your butt out of the house to vax you ? I don’t think that the National Guard medics are going to fall for the old Jedi mind trick.
Of course, Cuomo just got NYS moved to the back of the time for covid vaccination.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8949141/Trump-blames-Cuomo-delay-New-York-getting-COVID-19-vaccine-states-want-now.html
This reminds me, I need to go get my second shingles vaccine that I had no idea that I needed to get. Thanks ech. Thanks a lot.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/largest-distribution-ever-thousands-cars-lined-texas-food-bank
If I wasn’t sick, or in FLorida, I would volunteer with our Constable’s Deputies working a drive thru food bank here on Saturday. They have only 200 boxes to give out. I think that they will do that pretty quickly.
n
Thinking about ordering. “Exploring the Unix System”, Jan-1-1848
but $890 is a lot of money and it’s probably out of date.
https://www.amazon.com/Exploring-System-library-Patrick-1992-01-03/dp/B01FEP4HQI/ref=sr_1_12?dchild=1&qid=1605724053&refinements=p_27%3AStephen+Kochan&s=books&sr=1-12&tag=ttgnet-20
I am seeing used out of print SF books that I consider to be five star book listed for crazy prices too.
https://www.amazon.com/Rolling-Thunder-Lightning-Novel/dp/044101772X/?tag=ttgnet-20
Thinking about ordering. “Exploring the Unix System”, Jan-1-1848
but $890 is a lot of money and it’s probably out of date.
I had the Kochan book as a text in my undergrad days, but I’m not *that* old.
The most expensive CS text I’ve used is Sipser’s “Theory of Computation”. Great book, but pricey. To his credit, Sipser doesn’t throw out revisions frequently just to enrich himself.
Wizard of Id: Watch Out For The Backfire !
https://www.gocomics.com/wizardofid/2020/11/18
Oh my, somebody is gonna lose their eyebrows !
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/danish-study-suggests-masks-do-little-stop-covid-iowa-gov-insists-there-evidence-both
–as I’ve previously stated, I wear an N95 whenever I have to get close to, or interact with people in a smaller space. That should protect both of us, as it doesn’t have an exhale valve. That said, LOTS of people wear masks of dubious utility and then wear them incorrectly. Or they pull the mask down to chew on a fingernail, or rub their eyes after touching the doorknob, or go home to their preschool snot bag…
You can’t get DOCTORS to consistently wash their hands or avoid contamination from pens, handles, keyboards, etc. The compliance and effective use of masks by most people is pretty poor. On the other hand, the mask keeps your booger hooks out of your mouth, and catches a lot more sputum than the crook of your naked elbow. If nothing else, those two things have contributed to the lower cold and flu season…
n
FWIW, my postal carrier gave me a starbucks gift card for $15 this week. I’ve been giving him a box of N95 masks (20ct) about every month. He says “you have literally saved my life”. Simple enough to do, and makes him happy. My burn rate is much lower than I stocked for, even after taking care of mom and siblings.
I think I’ll be taking a case of TP, paper towels, and some more masks with me if I go to FL.
n
Looks like the recent changes to the Dominion software were here in the USA by this guy:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/11/denver-business-owner-dominions-eric-coomer-unhinged-sociopath-internet-profile-deleted-erased-audio/
I gotta wonder how much the guy really knew about writing software vs. how much the company wanted his PhD on the door when trying to land government contracts.
PhD in Physics. You’d be surprised at how many of these guys really know very little about anything beyond Matlab. I interviewed a few this Spring when we did en masse hiring at the last job, and the PhD from the California school was the biggest BS artist.
Of course, management really wanted to hire him regardless, but I worked for … sociopaths!
Hey, the Dominion vote tabulating machines are probably running Matlab.
I think I’ll be taking a case of TP, paper towels, and some more masks with me if I go to FL.
Isn’t there a law in Florida about transporting scarce items across state lines ?
Better not get pulled over.
“Trapped Travelers In Australia “Scream From Hotel” After Being Ordered Into Another 2 Weeks Of Quarantine”
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trapped-travelers-australia-scream-hotel-after-being-ordered-another-2-weeks-quarantine
Looks like traveling right now is fraught with getting trapped in a lock down.
If it was entirely up to me, I’d cancel today and just stay home. I’m making progress on my cleanout, so OF COURSE it’s time to take a week off, shut down my ebay, and generally get nothing done for 10 days.
n
Hey, the Dominion vote tabulating machines are probably running Matlab.
Late 90s? South America? I’m guessing Perl.
What’s Spanish for “Hot skillz”?
“I think I’ll be taking a case of TP, paper towels, and some more masks with me if I go to FL.”
Isn’t there a law in Florida about transporting scarce items across state lines ?
Better not get pulled over.
Florida has anti-gouging laws, similar to Texas, but enforcement targets retailers and contractors.
Gasoline retail is a big target.
And, yes, the gas stations just outside the Orlando airport are allowed to charge that much, exempted from the anti-gouging laws by court decision.
FHP coverage was non-existent in July. As I’ve related before, however, Alabama State Patrol seemed to be hustling to meet quotas at the end of June — lots of traps on I-10, speeding and “move over law”.
Mobile Traffic Court sessions take place in the city convention center.
It’s been a frustrating day already…
Wife got a new phone but was having problems with calls and texts and has been telling me for days. I knew it should work, iPhones have wifi calling and I have good wifi. It wasn’t working. Several days of head scratching later I realized you have to TURN ON wifi calling on the phone. Sigh.
Other people on my team at work have dubious technical skills but they have been with the company longer and thus are believed before me. Even when I clearly have more experience, and my ideas are almost always right in the end. Today I was told I should have let a more senior person review my work on a particular small project. I let him review it and his only feedback was that a setting should be different, but his suggestion was outside of the allowable range. Sigh again.
Paul Weston: This Coup D’Etat Could Lead to U.S. Civil War
Sometimes it takes an outsider to see just how bad the situation is and how much worse it could become.
“More proof it was never about the virus and all about control”
https://gunfreezone.net/more-proof-it-was-never-about-the-virus-and-all-about-control/
“From the NY Post: Cuomo blames drug companies, President Trump for speedy COVID-19 vaccines”
What a tool !
“Nancy Pelosi secures Democratic backing as Speaker after running unopposed but will need majority on House floor in January to get fourth term”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8962465/Nancy-Pelosi-secures-Democratic-backing-Speaker.html
“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was re-elected as the leader of the Democrats on Wednesday.”
“The Democratic caucus held virtual elections due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis – and Pelosi ran unopposed.”
“She’ll need to secure a majority on the House floor after the new Congress is sworn-in in January to make her speakership official.”
Stretch is halfway there to being Speaker again.
“Pincer Movement”
http://raconteurreport.blogspot.com/2020/11/pincer-movement.html
“The battle continues. On two fronts, it appears.”
“On one side Grifter-in-chief Palpatine, and his sidekick Jar Jar Kneepads, abetted in the fraud by their spokesholes at the local versions of Pravda and Isvestia, which is just about every newspaper and broadcast radio and TV station, in every market, coat to coast, save a token opposition and a few stragglers, is amping up their perpetual gaslighting of the challenges to this election, and cranking up the volume and tempo of their relentless drumbeat that the Hidin’/Kneepads ticket was victorious, and that therefore President Trump ought to get it over with and commit political seppuku.”
“This with zero electoral votes awarded anywhere, and about 90 such in total doubt, with fraud so widespread and rampant it’s visible from satellites in space.”
Some very strong words there with several insinuations to Rule 308.
Other people on my team at work have dubious technical skills but they have been with the company longer and thus are believed before me.
I had the opposite problem at my last job. The managers were “flavor of the month” and placed more value on the newer team members ideas.
My wife speculated that the big boss was on T therapy from the way he sounded yelling at me on our last conference call before I was fired. I’ll go with her theory because she’s rarely wrong with her first take on medical conditions just looking at someone.
She took one look at my boss at The Death Star across a room at a party and said, “Three heart attacks, right?”
I said, “I think his score on the George Carlin ‘Health Sweepstakes’ is two.”
“Wait.”
Hey, the Dominion vote tabulating machines are probably running Matlab.
Late 90s? South America? I’m guessing Perl.
What’s Spanish for “Hot skillz”?
I have some Perl code that I run on my web server every night. Perl is definitely “write once” code.
There’s always an agenda, and it’s never “let’s ask the person with the most knowledge and practical skills”.
A bunch of Biden voters were recruited from the “usually non-voting” pool to vote against Trump by voting for Biden. Many of them were not motivated to vote in the down-ballot races. Those voters are also more likely to vote by mail, since it is easier.
Thank you for Rocco’s Sauce. I’ll give it a try.
Can you deep fry in a Fry Daddy with bacon grease? I’ll google it later.
“The Grand Tour Presents: A Massive Hunt – Official Trailer”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZmoFfYCzKw&feature=emb_logo
Sweet ! The boys are back !
Madagascar ?
BTW, I am shocked that Jeremy Clarkson is still alive.
Hat tip to:
https://gunfreezone.net/the-grand-tour-is-back/
I guess Object-Oriented goes way back when you think about it.
Sweet ! The boys are back !
Madagascar ?
I am shocked that Jeremy Clarkson is still alive.
No way that the DSP6 in the Focus makes it up the mountain using the tank treads without something breaking. Ford stood to lose up to $5 billion on that transmission, but the class action window was really narrow.
Exactly my sarcastic point. There is no standard. What is a *face covering*? Infection rates are going up. Why? Everybody is already wearing masks and social distancing. Shouldn’t rates be nose-diving. I was going to wear just a face shield to shop at HEB. I tried reading their policy and it has a blurb “face shields aren’t recommended” linked to the CDC, I think. Are they or aren’t they? People are wearing face shields all over Vegas. I guess you are not allowed to ask if you have a medical condition where you can’t wear a mask.
I’m not going to be first in line to get a COVID vax. I’m not an anti-vaxer, but I’m not going to be a test subject for a new technology rushed out the door. Swine Flu is not forgotten. Washing my hands, wearing a face diaper and distancing is working for me. I wonder if the FDA will release a comprehensive memo on why they approve these new techniques. Or, “hey, it looks safe to us, take it.”
LET THE HEELING AND VAXING BEGIN ‘CAUSE THE GOOBERMINT SAYS SO!
This new one emoji rule is really cramping my style !
It “worked”, but that only means that it slowed down the spread to the point of temporarily relieving the pressure on the hospitals. We don’t really need to shut down everything. We just need to tighten up on our isolation conformance to lower the rate of spread. Getting people who have reason to suspect that they are infected to fully isolate themselves would make a difference, but that is difficult, and the interval of asymptomatic contagion is still a problem.
Ya know, if Trump does somehow manage to pull off a second term, 50 million democrat voters are going to think it was a coup. They are laying the groundwork for that as we sit here. They even have a name for it, that means “self coup” although I’d bet if you googled that you won’t get hits before last month… certainly not in english. I can’t find the link but believe me, they are already covering this base.
n
That describes me. I don’t get vaccinations just because they are made available. I consider what my risks are (or my kids’ risks were), make some assessment of the risks for using that vaccine, and decide what to do. There are many more vaccines available than are recommended for routine use. I like to take part in the decision as to where the risk-reward trade-off is in my favor.
“FAA allows Boeing 737 Max to take flight again”
https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/trending/faa-allows-boeing-737-max-take-flight-again/CAPA6V75RVCRVIZK2GJ2XSZCAA/
“American Airlines so far is the only U.S. airline to reinitiate Max flights on one round-trip route between New York and Miami. The flight begins on Dec. 29, the AP reported. Southwest and United Airlines plan on bringing back the Max next year, CNBC reported.”
“Before that though, all of the planes must have maintenance and modifications before they can be used again. Pilots will also have to have simulator training, the AP reported.”
Will you fly on one ?
Probably safer than a SpaceX Starship which I would ride in a heartbeat.
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
Ted O’Baxter noted today’s anniversary. 42 years. Time flies.
https://www.history.com/news/jonestown-jim-jones-mass-murder-suicide
Biggest mass suicide in history. It doesn’t get a lot of play in mass media because all of the big San Francisco politicians at the time had ties to Jim Jones, including “Di Fi”, Stretch, Willie Brown, and the co-sainted Dems Harvey Milk and George Moscone.
If it’s Boeing, I still ain’t going. Not until non-American aviation regulators have passed the plane. And, quite possibly, not even then.
G
“Windows 10: Microsoft reveals Pluton security chip – ‘Expect Patch Tuesday-type updates'”
https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-microsoft-reveals-pluton-security-chip-expect-patch-tuesday-type-updates/
“Microsoft is working with chip makers like Intel to bring its Pluton security processor to all Windows 10 PCs.”
One chip to rule them all !
I wonder how well Linux works with the Pluton ?
“FAA allows Boeing 737 Max to take flight again”
If it’s Boeing, I still ain’t going. Not until non-American aviation regulators have passed the plane.
Chances are you will be flying an A220 once the Airbus factory in Mobile is up to full capacity.
I saw a lot of 220s on the tarmac at O’Scare the last time I flew through Chicago.
@Markw:
I had that early in my last job. My then-boss, a very good guy, told me in so many words, “I’m having difficulty justifying your salary”, since most of my group of people were paid two-thirds, or less, of what I got. But the counters-of-beans could only see that I was costing them a lot more for the same work. Disregarding the fact that I had 20 years in the industry, doing highly technical jobs, whereas my immediate colleagues were recent school-leavers, with no experience, and mostly taught by me. Not to mention I had a degree in electronics.
That said, I was there for 16 years, and three system refreshes, so it must have worked out for them.
G.
I’ve gotten that several times. I suggested that the managers or bean-counters look at productivity ratios in comparison to total-cost-of-employment ratios and see whether the others might possibly be more expensive per unit of work produced.
Never did any good. “You can’t really compare how good two engineers/programmers are.” “We look at the productivity of the team as a whole, not of the individual contributors.” “There are considerations beyond how much code you write.”
I wonder how well Linux works with the Pluton ?
Intel sees the writing on the wall wrt Microsoft. The company even has its own distribution, Clear Linux, which, ironically, runs very well on AMD as well as Intel chips in my experience.
The caveat with Clear Linux is that the latest instruction set additions are required for the system to install.
Hey, Rush Limbaugh is calling Jack Dorsey, the head of Twitter, a lonely old lighthouse keeper. And Mark Zuckerberg is his robot that he built to have some company.
Looking at the picture on Limbaugh’s page, I’d say Dorsey is the lonely old sea captain, and Zuckerberg is the guy sewn into the walrus suit. The captain ran out of prosthetic tusks.
I follow an antifa group on the internetz. They are 100% convinced that Trump is a Russian agent, is a dictator (although they never specify what he dictates) and is planning a “putsch” if he loses. They are expecting to fight if Biden loses.
In my current corporate job, it’s clear that rank is the most important factor. Technical ability is not.
“UK Developing QR Code System To Only Allow Vaccinated People Into Events”
https://summit.news/2020/11/18/uk-developing-qr-code-system-to-only-allow-vaccinated-people-into-events/
“Source close to government says spectators at the Tokyo Olympics will all need to be vaccinated”
Yup, here we go. You will need to be vaccinated to go to public events, your job, use public conveyances, etc, etc, etc.
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
Hey, Rush Limbaugh is calling Jack Dorsey, the head of Twitter, a lonely old lighthouse keeper. And Mark Zuckerberg is his robot that he built to have some company.
Looking at the picture on Limbaugh’s page, I’d say Dorsey is the lonely old sea captain, and Zuckerberg is the guy sewn into the walrus suit. The captain ran out of prosthetic tusks.
https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2020/11/18/are-rasputin-guy-and-mark-zuckerberg-good-for-america/
Rush also called Jack Dorsey “Rasputin Guy”.
“You can’t really compare how good two engineers/programmers are.”
In my current corporate job, it’s clear that rank is the most important factor. Technical ability is not.
Been there, done that. Run away ! The layoffs will start soon.
“An Engineer Explains Why We Must Kill Software-Based Voting”
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/11/an_engineer_explains_why_we_must_kill_softwarebased_voting.html
“You see, the problem with software-based voting machines is not the software or the design of the machines, but rather the integrity of the designers. If the designers are crooks, then your election is hosed.”
“This is the problem with artificial intelligence (A.I.) as well. A.I. could be a very cool adjunct to help us through life, but unfortunately, many software coders today grew up in amoral California or amoral socialist countries, and these people have zero moral inhibition writing A.I. code that conducts Big Tech criminal activity.”
“Behind every dishonest voting machine is a pile of dishonest programmers who have no moral inhibitions against giving local and regional politicians the tools they need to steal elections. And these highly intelligent idiots don’t consider for a minute that those same tools could be used by the government against their side when they fall out of favor. Software geeks are pretty smart in many ways and quite stupid in many others. I don’t trust them with my future or my government. Should you?”
“A reader will retort that the voting machines should use open source code, so the good geeks can examine what’s happening behind the curtain. That won’t prevent bad geeks from modifying voting machine code on the day of the election, or even after, to change vote totals. Not every problem has a competent and honest solution in software.”
Wow, this guy speaks my thoughts extremely well. Vote Tabulating Machines should not be configurable nor update-able, especially not in the field.
Yeah, the “work as a team” scam in school. So you do the work and other than a bit of help from a couple of others in a group of eight, that’s six folks getting the same grade and all they did was eat boogers. But we all got an A.
Next semester and suddenly I’m not “interacting enough”. Telling the teacher-bitch to study the history of the USSR went over like a lead balloon. Huh. I did nothing but a one time proof reading and still got a B.
@Nick
re: ‘half a bubble off’
Have you had ear infections? Wax buildup?
They seem to be stable. Time will tell.
“Nancy Pelosi secures Democratic backing as Speaker after running unopposed but will need majority on House floor in January to get fourth term”
Stretch will need 218 votes out of 435 unless members vote “present”. The problem is that the math only allows four Dems to vote “present” without creating a tie or giving the Speaker’s gavel to the Republicans’ choice.
“An Engineer Explains Why We Must Kill Software-Based Voting”
I’ve always believed Florida was too quick to kill the Vote-o-matic punch cards, but the system stopped working when more than three digits of precision were required in the count percentages.
“Supersized” WiFi.
Channels wider than 40 MHz don’t work at my house. It took me most of six years living with 802.11 AC to figure it out.
This might be good news for some of you, however.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/11/fcc-adds-45mhz-to-wi-fi-promising-supersize-networks-on-5ghz-band/
well, cut my hair. Mowed the lawn. mulched the leaves. moved my new small freezer into the garage. For now, I’m keeping it. Maybe it will move to the lakehouse, if that ever happens.
Moved some stuff around in the garage.
Thought of another local auction house that might consign some stuff for me. I’ll call them tomorrow.
Made the Velveeta version of hamburger helper, beef stroganoff flavor for dinner. Daughter one and I both love the flavor. Wife is ‘meh’ and daughter two chose to skip dinner. Oh well, more for us.
n
“Top Pathologist Claims Coronavirus is “The Greatest Hoax Ever Perpetrated on an Unsuspecting Public””
https://summit.news/2020/11/18/top-pathologist-claims-coronavirus-is-the-greatest-hoax-ever-perpetrated-on-an-unsuspecting-public/
“The doctor said that nothing could be done to stop the spread of the virus besides protecting older more vulnerable people and that the whole situation represented “politics playing medicine, and that’s a very dangerous game.””
“Hodkinson remarked that “social distancing is useless because COVID is spread by aerosols which travel 30 meters or so before landing,” as he called for society to be re-opened immediately to prevent the debilitating damage being caused by lockdowns.”
““Masks are utterly useless. There is no evidence base for their effectiveness whatsoever,” he said.”
“The doctor also slammed the unreliability of PCR tests, noting that “positive test results do not, underlined in neon, mean a clinical infection,” and that all testing should stop because the false numbers are “driving public hysteria.””
Wow.
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
The video is at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEo3rnU12jw
Why is this guy walking free to even be a suspect in serial killings?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8963187/Suspect-sought-remains-3-southern-Colorado.html
n
good job kid…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8961175/Missing-nine-year-old-Tennessee-boy-spending-two-nights-makeshift-shelter.html
n
An obvious charlatan!
LET THE MASKLESS TREND BEGIN! (AND HEELING)
@drwilliams, “Have you had ear infections? ”
Thanks for the reminder. I’ve had a stuffy head and while I don’t feel anything unusual in my ears, I have had worse tinnitus than normal, including much more frequent “ramping” loud whine. I’ve also noticed some buzzing when I sing certain notes. Might be time to see and ENT… on top of all the other stuff that needs to be done.
n
@nick – some Benydryl or equivalent is indicated.
*I am not a doctor. YMMV.
@Nick
I went in to see my gp years ago feeling ‘half a bubble off’. After hearing my non-specific complaints, he says “Let’s take a look in your ears.” Right one was ok, left one he says “Hmmmm.”
I said, “What does that mean?”.
His reply was “Can’t see anything, it’s plugged with wax.”
Nurse flushed the wax out, the water hit my eardrum, and I jumped about three feet. Doctor looked in and said “Bright red, let’s get you some antibiotics.”
@Lynn
“Top Pathologist Claims Coronavirus is “The Greatest Hoax Ever Perpetrated on an Unsuspecting Public””
https://summit.news/2020/11/18/top-pathologist-claims-coronavirus-is-the-greatest-hoax-ever-perpetrated-on-an-unsuspecting-public/
“The doctor said that nothing could be done to stop the spread of the virus besides protecting older more vulnerable people and that the whole situation represented “politics playing medicine, and that’s a very dangerous game.””
As the Dow rallied on vaccine news, and the employment numbers improved considerably, it became imperative that the economy be knocked back down so that a Plugs/Kneedpads administration would have a low number to improve upon.
@Lynn
“Top Pathologist Claims Coronavirus is “The Greatest Hoax Ever Perpetrated on an Unsuspecting Public””
https://summit.news/2020/11/18/top-pathologist-claims-coronavirus-is-the-greatest-hoax-ever-perpetrated-on-an-unsuspecting-public/
“The doctor said that nothing could be done to stop the spread of the virus besides protecting older more vulnerable people and that the whole situation represented “politics playing medicine, and that’s a very dangerous game.””
As the Dow rallied on vaccine news, and the employment numbers improved considerably, it became imperative that the economy be knocked back down so that a Plugs/Kneedpads administration would have a low number to improve upon.
Dude, awesome conspiracy theory !
But the problem is that they are going to move the manufacturing back to China. So the economy will never get better.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-hires-man-who-cost-millions-of-american-jobs-with-china-trade-bill-to-serve-as-white-house-counselor
Conspiracy theory? So if the doddering senile serial plagiarist, reliably accused sexual assailant, lifelong confabulist and sellout-for-cash is successfully Pinochio’ed into the West Wing come Jan 20, it will be just a coincidence that all the Dim lockdown governors will suddenly reverse course?
“The doctor said that nothing could be done to stop the spread of the virus besides protecting older more vulnerable people..”
Note that the petty tyrant of Minnesota has extended his emergency powers yet again with another lockdown. His claim to power rests on the need to reduce Wuhan Chinese flu deaths, yet despite having been forced by uncomfortable questions into a “5-point plan” designed to reduce deaths in long-term care which comprise 4/5 deaths in MN, he hasn’t moved that needle in months. In other words, he has failed miserably to do the one thing that he should be doing, and used his failure to keep his grip on emergency powers.
The Obola/plugs slugs are crawling out from under the rocks:
.John Brennan: Biden will need to “repair the damage” of “Donald Trump’s actions on Middle East policies.”
Gee, think he wants the wars to continue?
LET THE ETERNAL WARS AND HEELING BEGIN!
At least they are all uncloaking. No excuses about ‘voting patterns’ or anything else.
–in other words, the perfect political move – a self licking lollipop.
n
–there’s a mechanism. They had motive and opportunity. That’s means.
n
But see the article on the CBC website. Who knew that Dominion was a Canadian company based here in Toronto?
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/toronto-firm-dominon-trump-voter-fraud-1.5806983
Our elections are much simpler with a very simple paper ballot. The Toronto municipal election is more complex but it is still a paper ballot that is read by machine, but there is always a paper trail.
Yeah, I don’t buy the conspiracy theory. I think the Corona situation is explained by a simple conjunction of two facts:
– Thanks to the Internet, this is the first time in human history that we had the capability to “lock down” in response to a virus. Enough of the economy is online, the ability for many people to work or study from home – even 20 years ago, this would not have worked.
– Our society has reached a sufficient level of well-being (maybe even decadence) that any threat to that well-being is treated as a catastrophe. Of course, the Corona virus really is deadly to older folk, the media makes money through hype, and politicians love a frightened electorate – so they have fanned this to a high flame.
That said, precisely because the economy is increasingly online, I believe that Corona is largely forcing change that was going to happen anyway. We’re moving more online faster. This is causing displacements in the economy that would have otherwise have happened more gradually.
Other displacements might not have happened, but are (imho) positive. We live in tourist region, and while there are few foreign tourists, there are a lot more local vacationers. It’s a different kind of market, and frankly a much saner market. Aside from those people whose livelihood depended on it, I really don’t think anyone will mourn the death of cheap mass tourism.
@greg
late 90s? Delphi
hot skills, same, but as I read frequently here, begin translating to spanish jajaaja, I read nada, amigo, and a lot of spanish words here
cheers
Yep, another internet conspiracy theory. Everyone here making that speculation and spreading the “Venezuelan software rumour” (really? Romania I could believe, but Venezuela?) could have spent 30 seconds checking Wikipedia. Not that I would believe anything on the CBC or Wikipedia. Everyone’s wrong! I think the space aliens that stole Elvis’ brain to use as a doorstop rigged the election using sentient gummy-bears. That’s just my opinion, but you heard it here first. //sarc-off.