Supposed to be another nice day. Yesterday was perfect. Gorgeous. High in the low 90s in the sun, cool in the shade.
I WASTED that beautiful day. I should have been out reveling in one of the last nice days before a hot summer, but I was doing stuff inside instead.
I did get a meeting set up with the ‘bulk’ auctioneer for next week.
I got my truck reloaded with my work stuff, got the phone connected, and some of the Sync stuff set up. I moved some other auction stuff around too.
Not much on the list though.
Today I have my non-prepping hobby meeting, and quarterly swapmeet. I’ll be taking one or two things that I don’t think will sell, but I’m willing to try.
After that, I’ve got an auction pickup- two hand trucks and a small chest freezer. Yup, deal was too good to pass up. I’m going to try flipping it to one of my friends, or our Rec Association. The hand trucks are always useful.
Then it’s off to the Rec Association for the spring Clean Up day. There is a general call for members to help get the place in shape after most of the winter with minimal maintenance outside of the pool. Two plus acres of wooded grass needs some work in the spring, as do all the outdoor items.
All of those things are local community building things, as well as being good for me and the family. They strengthen bonds with other people and especially with our neighbors. Those are good things at any time, but especially if hard times are coming.
Spend some time stacking up friends and acquaintances as well as canned goods. You won’t be sorry you did.
nick
71F and 87%RH at 8am with part overcast. Hmm. Headed to my meeting.
n
“Scientists have calculated that the chances of something so patently absurd [happening] are millions to one. But magicians have calculated that million-to-one chances crop up nine times out of ten.”
–Mort
I have to admit I was skeptical at first. Thanks for tracking down the authority.
Checking the sports section in the paper just now I noticed an article about a boxing event tonight, Alvarez (55-1-2) vs. Saunders (30-0).
Total fraud! Where can I see fight where at least one fighter has a losing record? At least WWE doesn’t keep won-lost records.
WWE is more like “Me this week, You next week” records.
I do have to admit though, I did attend a local wrestling event. Small town stuff. I was granted ring side access for pictures. My take away, which surprised me, is that I had a good time and enjoyed watching the antics. I also have to say those chaps are excellent athletes. To be able to toss one another around and not inflict serious injuries is quite remarkable. Actually entertaining and not a bad way to spend an evening.
Haven’t watched wrestling for a long time.
How’s Ric Flair doing these days?
Check A%E network tonight and following saturdays for WWE history programs.
I grew up on The Crusher, Scrap Iron Gadasky, and Baron Von Raschke. We all gathered around the TV to watch the blood flow. Northern Wisconsin.
The Claw!
The Drama! “Handsome” Harley Race becomes “Mad Dog” after gouging an opponent’s eye on–what else?–an eye bolt, then is reformed by rescuing a fellow wrestler who is getting tub-thumped by a gang outside the ring.
Has the women’s circuit embraced wokeness and the trans-wrestlers yet? I could write the script: Second tier wannabe declares ximself and goes through the top women’s wrestlers like a dose of salts, and then one day Andre the Giant-equivalent steps into the ring opposite, pulls down the microphone and says “I feeling pretty girly today” before whipping up a large batch of protein paste.
Gottaluvit!
Classic plugs: ugly, bi-polar and angry.
Watch: Biden Offers His Most Ridiculous Explanation Yet for Wearing a Mask While Fully Vaccinated
I was at a local H-E-B yesterday. There were 10+ people with no masks and no *Karens* berating them. After my second jab of the Pfizer mecho-gene-splicing experimental pseudo vaccine, I’ll be joining the others at H-E-B to see if the store giant will finally drop their ridiculous mandate that they don’t even enforce.
Great entertainmnet but not sports, even with athletic stars. The circus with out elephants.
Has the women’s circuit embraced wokeness and the trans-wrestlers yet? I could write the script: Second tier wannabe declares ximself and goes through the top women’s wrestlers like a dose of salts, and then one day Andre the Giant-equivalent steps into the ring opposite, pulls down the microphone and says “I feeling pretty girly today” before whipping up a large batch of protein paste.
I remember seeing a story like that associated with MMA, but WWE is fairly conservative.
I was at a local H-E-B yesterday. There were 10+ people with no masks and no *Karens* berating them. After my second jab of the Pfizer mecho-gene-splicing experimental pseudo vaccine, I’ll be joining the others at H-E-B to see if the store giant will finally drop their ridiculous mandate that they don’t even enforce.
The local HEB enforces masks. We have a lot of California and Subcontinent in the local neighborhoods, including an H1B development and a gated community of 5000+ sq ft homes where I believe the Hollywood crowd lives, including Robert Rodriguez, to take advantage of the schools.
I’ve seen Rodriguez twice in HEB.
At the risk of being the odd one out: I have nothing against masks. Corona aside, the flu has been virtually nonexistent this year, same for colds. I expect masks have a lot to do with that.
At the risk of being the odd one out: I have nothing against masks. Corona aside, the flu has been virtually nonexistent this year, same for colds. I expect masks have a lot to do with that.
I am not a big fan of masks. The heart ablation surgery almost three years ago left me easily short of breath at times of extra exertion. Any obstruction makes it difficult for me to get enough air so I am continuously dropping the mask below my nose. I was getting nasty looks for a while but that has gone away in the last couple of weeks.
My church went maskless last weekend but people are more than welcome to wear a mask if desired. We are dropping the every other pew separation on the first of June.
Back from my meeting, came home with more stuff than I left with. Frown.
I wore my mask while standing close and talking to someone. There were only a couple of other mask wearers out of 40 guys? I took mine off when just standing around and chatting, if we could stay separated, and at 90 degree angles to one another. I think everyone there is either jabbed or recovered at this point. Good turnout too.
There were even a couple of handshakes.
Stopped at the Goodwill on my way home and now I’m going out to pick up the freezer. Wife and kids did the cleanup day. Kids are aggrieved. Too bad for them.
Fairly nice out, 91F in the sun but less in the shade. Occasional breezes and broken clouds. Some that look threatening, but most just fluffy and white.
n
At the risk of being the odd one out: I have nothing against masks. Corona aside, the flu has been virtually nonexistent this year, same for colds. I expect masks have a lot to do with that.
In Texas, masks have become a political power thing, particularly between the Prog government running the City of Austin and the Governor. On paper, Austin requires a mask *everywhere* once you leave your home, even outside walking by yourself.
The Dems sense that they might well be able to win a state-wide race next year with the right candidate for Governor. They’ve run and data mined two state-wide races for Senate, and probably believe they have the numbers. However, part of the strategy will mean keeping the suburbs afraid, and raw Covid stats aren’t working in their favor right now.
Back from my meeting, came home with more stuff than I left with. Frown.
I wore my mask while standing close and talking to someone. There were only a couple of other mask wearers out of 40 guys? I took mine off when just standing around and chatting, if we could stay separated, and at 90 degree angles to one another. I think everyone there is either jabbed or recovered at this point. Good turnout too.
There were even a couple of handshakes.
I went to a men’s lunch on Wednesday with my church group. Everyone wanted to shake hands. I am not there yet but I did do fist bumps and elbow bumps.
“Database Reveals Over 200K People Involved in Posting Fake Reviews on Amazon”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/database-reveals-over-200k-people-involved-in-posting-fake-reviews-on-amazon
“The data shows third-party Amazon vendors working with customers to reward fake, positive reviews.”
I have had several people contact me over the years for fake reviews, I just ignore them. I had no idea that the problem was this pervasive.
I think that used to be called marketing before.
I was browsing Google Earth and street view. At my MIL’s last home street view captured her working in her yard. This was at least three years ago as her old car is in the driveway.
https://earth.app.goo.gl/kC8AMR
The Incredible Vanishing Flu
By Brian C.Joondeph, MD
May 6, 2021
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/05/the_incredible_vanishing_flu.html
This Infographic, Backed By Over 70 Citations, Completely Obliterates The Masking Children Narrative
Scott Morefield @SKMorefield Posted: May 07, 2021 10:30 PM
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/scottmorefield/2021/05/07/this-infographic-backed-by-over-70-citations-completely-obliterates-the-masking-children-narrative-n2589145
I was browsing Google Earth and street view. At my MIL’s last home street view captured her working in her yard. This was at least three years ago as her old car is in the driveway.
Our house still has the previous owners’ Prius parked out front.
Seems now that at least here in the US the possibility of herd immunity is slipping away and Covid 19 may become another recurring illness like the flu. While the vaccines are said to reduce the severity if you still get Covid, so far there’s been no indication that they reduce the chances of becoming a Covid ‘long hauler.’ Given that risk I’ll stick with a mask (N95) in higher risk situations. Plus, every MD that I know has been jabbed yet still wears an N95 mask when dealing with a Covid patient. When they change their protocol I’ll consider doing the same.
So did Dr Joondeph not mask up in the presence of confirmed Covid patients?
This fallacy comes up all the time. Yes, the masks won’t stop many individual viruses. But you don’t breathe out individual viruses. You emit drops from droplet size (easily caught by a mask on the way in or out) down to aerosol size. The masks are somewhat less effective at stopping aerosols. Think about it, the mask pores are much bigger than O2, N2, CO2 molecules, but they do restrict their outflow.
Actually, they did for the 1918 flu pandemic.
In addition, the major vector for flu was shut down this year – schools are the major place for transmission of flu. Unlike COVID, children are greater sources of the flu virus and spread flu virus longer. Also, more people got the flu vaccine this year than in previous ones. At one point it was running about 30% above last year.
Is that a gun in the lower pictures?
Texas driver confronts Black Lives Matter protesters blocking intersection, cop steps in to … lead him back to his car
That’s assault with a deadly weapon. The cop did nothing. I wonder if they will follow up after seeing the picture.
I believe it is also a crime to block traffic in Texas like this.
There should be a bounty placed on demonstrators who block roads and highways. Double the bounty for the interstate. If one of those people were to touch my vehicle, I’m moving, through them. If a weapon is displayed I will aim for the person. Self defense. (Reality is some liberal weenie judge would charge me with assault.)
No survivors means no one to press charges or testify. #FollowMeForMoreLifeHacks
Picked up the freezer. Put it at my secondary for now, plugged it in to verify working condition.
Currently 79F and 75%RH in the dark. It was nice, but a bit sweaty when the wind wasn’t blowing. When it was blowing, it was B L O W I N G ! !
Kids and wife are watching the Hunger Games movies. I saw them once, no desire to watch them again. Rediculous doesn’t even begin to describe them, and then there is the actress and character she plays. “PEEEEETTTOORRrr”, “PEEEEETTTTooRRR”. Yech.
n
Notable, isn’t it, how many movies just don’t live up to the marketing or the public acclaim?
Not only movies, of course. Practically any mass-market entertainment falls short.
Yah, that’s a big part of it.
And that. Hi, tardette! You think that just because you’re pretty and were in a movie, you can shit all over your audience. Can you say “boycott”? I knew you could!
@ech
“This fallacy comes up all the time. Yes, the masks won’t stop many individual viruses. But you don’t breathe out individual viruses. You emit drops from droplet size (easily caught by a mask on the way in or out) down to aerosol size. ”
If it were a fallacy then we would be seeing definitive proof that masks (not N95) work. Instead we have seen the opposite from the beginning. Some of the first information to come out of Chinese hospitals last February was that masks were not effective.
Aerosols are created when wet particles dry out. Wet particles big enough to get caught on a mask, either in or out, dry out to form aerosols. Some stay on the mask, some go in, some go out. Some studies have indicated that the net effect is to increase the viral load of the mask wearer.
“The masks are somewhat less effective at stopping aerosols. Think about it, the mask pores are much bigger than O2, N2, CO2 molecules, but they do restrict their outflow.”
Surgical masks are ineffective at stopping aerosols smaller than their pore size. Basic filtration theory. Masks made of random fabric from JoAnn are worse.
The partial pressures of gases are the same on either side of a conventional filter, ie, no filtration is occurring. Masks (and partial facepiece respirators) create a pressure differential which requires more effort to maintain airflow, ie, people have to work harder to breathe. More strain on the heart, lower levels of blood O2 and higher levels of CO2.
A basic flow experiment can be done with a garden hose and an adjustable nozzle. Tack up a homemade mask, a surgical mask, an N95 respirator, and a piece of Tyvek. Adjust the nozzle to full stream and see how much restriction you get from each material.
More importantly, aim the stream just past the edge of each material.
In construction the installation of Tyvek includes taping the seams with special tape, otherwise moisture can find it’s way around and there is no warranty.
Wearing an N95 respirator includes fitment training, because the seal of the respirator to the face is the most important consideration in filtering airflow.
Anyone who has had training with a Scott AirPak or similar and had a seal fail in the smokehouse is well aware that air and smoke leak through any breach in the seal.
Homemade and surgical masks don’t have any seal. They have limited effectiveness as sneeze shields.
“Actually, they did [wear masks]for the 1918 flu pandemic.
In addition, the major vector for flu was shut down this year – schools are the major place for transmission of flu. Unlike COVID, children are greater sources of the flu virus and spread flu virus longer. Also, more people got the flu vaccine this year than in previous ones. At one point it was running about 30% above last year.”
Yup, I had the same historical observation. But 1918 was prior to the invention of the nonwoven filtration materials used in modern surgical masks. If there were any strong indications that masking with cloth had any effect, it would seem logical that there would have been some encouragement to mask up during bad flu seasons and more recent pandemics (SARS).
Influenza historically 9,000,000 to 45,000,000 cases. That’s across all vaccination rates and vaccine efficacies.
This year, 2,000.
That’s a reduction of 99.98% from the minimum.
Strong evidence that the influenza vaccine was super-de-duper effective this year is lacking.
Seems very hard to make a case for 99+% based on school closings.
I think it’s going to take a while to get that one figured out.
@Alan
“So did Dr Joondeph not mask up in the presence of confirmed Covid patients?”
I don’t know whether he saw Wuhan lying noface ChiCom coronavius patients. If he did, SOP was generally disposable N95 surgical partial facepiece respirator, not surgical masks.
I’m going to try for an early night.
n
I bought a 2008 Toyota Highlander V6 with 156,176 miles for my business today. She was a trade-in, not an auction vehicle. Now I can get the commercial auto insurance that I can cover this vehicle with and all of our employee vehicles while they are running errands for my business. I got $200 off the asking price, more than I wanted to pay but something that I can drive comfortably. I figure that one lunch run a week should keep the battery charged up (I hope). Otherwise, she will probably be a packing lot queen.
https://www.superiorsubaruofhouston.com/used/Toyota/2008-Toyota-Highlander-ef7d16ea0a0e09af1ed39cbf019ad38f.htm
@Lynn
“I figure that one lunch run a week should keep the battery charged up.”
Congratulations. Watch the carbs.
“Climate Visionaries Explain why a Green Universal Basic Income is Required”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/05/08/__trashed-5/
“Climate visionaries explaining why a green universal income will help head off a violent armed uprising by economically redundant workers, who can no longer find a job in the age of automation.”
“But while jobs will be lost, there will still be plenty of work, and a universal basic income could be linked to people’s participation in projects focused on climate justice and care for the Earth, he suggests.”
More people to demonstrate in the streets for BLM ?
Sometimes all those guns lost in boating accidents do show up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pye9vOXojeU
I have been watching this guy since he had <100k subs. His older stuff is a lot of fun.
n
@Lynn
“I figure that one lunch run a week should keep the battery charged up.”
Congratulations. Watch the carbs.
Too late. I fought the carbs and the carbs won.
Exactly why I am well stocked with N95s.
Carbs? Should have fuel injection.
Nothing to see here folks, just move along…
‘Jugular’ of the U.S. fuel pipeline system shuts down after cyberattack
The infiltration of a major fuel pipeline is “the most significant, successful attack on energy infrastructure we know of.”
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.politico.com/amp/news/2021/05/08/colonial-pipeline-cyber-attack-485984
“Exactly why I am well stocked with N95s. ”
–yes me too, and not the lying chicom KN95
n
Seems that FOX news in Philly has been fully co-opted
–let me edit that for you Steve, “a child dragged along to what, until Disney took a risk on fixing it up, was one of the pits of depravity, in one of the most violent and filthy cities in America, isn’t safe from black on black violence…”
At least zerohedge gets it right.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/three-shot-times-square-including-four-year-old-girl