vxbush 3/30/2020 6:40:18 AM

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Morning, campers. The idea of "shelter in place" is apparently foreign to midwesterners--at least the ones at my office. Despite being told to work from home, enough people were going into to work to grab things that the management was really worried about virus load on solid surfaces. We were basically yelled at to stay home, period. 

vxbush 3/30/2020 7:03:09 AM

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One note on COVID--While the Worldometer site that I've been following gives the number of recovered cases, I haven't seen any US numbers on the same. Has anyone else? 

(Granted, I put myself in a news moratorium this weekend for my own sanity.)

lucius septimius 3/30/2020 7:23:22 AM

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vxbush 3/30/2020 7:35:32 AM

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In #3 lucius septimius said: I just can't seem to wake up this morning.  It's not like I didn't sleep.

You, too? I had my alarm set for 6:30 but hit snooze and reset the alarm several times before forcing myself up at 8. I never do this anymore, so something was off. 

buzzsawmonkey 3/30/2020 7:38:39 AM

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lucius septimius 3/30/2020 7:47:10 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 4:

My alarm went off at 7 and I dozed for a half hour.  Kids are supposed to log on for school at 9, so I have a little more time than usual to get them moving.  I wonder if the obscene pollen count has anything to do with it -- over 8900 yesterday and over 7000 already today.

doppelganglander 3/30/2020 7:55:04 AM

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Reply to lucius septimius in 6:

That probably has a lot to do with it.

I slept badly and only got about 4 hours. Nevertheless I woke up when the alarm went off at 7 and I was online by 8. I have no idea who this person is.

vxbush 3/30/2020 8:03:40 AM

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In #7 doppelganglander said: That probably has a lot to do with it.

I concur. I have no idea what the pollen count is up here, though. 

Syrah 3/30/2020 9:36:38 AM

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We had hard driving rain last night. 

Sideways rain makes a hell of a racket against old wooden sash windows. 

The sun is playing hide and seek with the clouds now.

This is normal spring weather in the great north wet. 

A little bit of everything within the space of an hour. Rinse, recycle and repeat.

Syrah 3/30/2020 9:47:01 AM

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I think a an explanation for the weirdness we have seen from the Chinese government and our own on this Wuhan Virus is that there is/was serious concern that it is an accidental release of a weaponized Virus from a lab,...a few hundred yards from that awful wet market. 

It wouldn’t be the first accidental release. Some years back, the Russians had an accidental release of a weaponized bacteria from one of their labs in the Ural mountains. 

During the impeachment sham, Trump closed air travel from China and he set up the virus task force.  If they thought it was just a flu, that would have been an overreaction. If they thought it could have been an accidental weapon release, it would make more sense.

Syrah 3/30/2020 9:51:26 AM

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Some thoughts about “re-infection” of the Virus. 

Many of the test kits from China have been shown to be faulty or flawed. 

If the Chinese were using these same tests, they may have released known infected people due to false negatives from their own crappy tests. This would look like a re-infection if a false negative test person were to later show symptoms again.  Their system may have never cleared the virus from their system. 

I think our tests will be far more accurate and less likely to give false negatives, which will result in a comparatively low “re-infection” rate in the US.

vxbush 3/30/2020 10:03:18 AM

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In #10 Syrah said: I think a an explanation for the weirdness we have seen from the Chinese government and our own on this Wuhan Virus is that there is/was serious concern that it is an accidental release of a weaponized Virus from a lab,...a few hundred yards from that awful wet market. 

I've seen stories about researchers at the lab are given lots of discretion on how they want to get rid of research animals, and the story is that researchers sold the animals at the wet market. I don't know how reasonable that is, given that I have no clue how the Chinese feel about following western protocols of science. 

midwestgak 3/30/2020 10:10:37 AM

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Received this email (warning) from mt landlord today:

"Don't want to rain on your parade but a wise human told me:

1.To Tenants: If the government says you don't have to pay your rent and there's a

ban on evictions, you better do whatever you can to pay your rent. There will be major

repercussions when evictions bans are lifted. Don't think you'll get a free ride out of this.

PAY YOUR RENT! Your landlord has bills to pay too.

2. To Homeowners: If the government tells banks to stop mortgage payments, DO

WHATEVER YOU CAN TO PAY YOUR MORTGAGE! Some lenders are saying you

don't have to pay for 3 months but on the 4th month, all four payments are due in full.

Do not take a chance and not pay. Major foreclosures will come from all this. The banks

didn't help homeowners in 2008-09 and in 2020, it's still the same. Pay your mortgage.

3. If the utility company suspends payments, you better PAY ANY AMOUNT YOU

CAN! They are like banks, they will want their money eventually and when all this clears

up, you'll owe an exuberant bill and still won't have any utilities. Pay whatever you can.

4. If you get a government stimulus check, this check is to help pay your bills. That

means you pay your rent, your mortgage, your utilities, your insurance, your car

payment. This in not for frivolous spending.

5. The real problem is, many who will get the stimulus check... you won't pay your bills

then be crying and wailing saying "They evicted me. They cut off my Power. They

repossessed my car..." All while you're broke and carrying that empty purse you bought

with your stimulus check.

Right!! It's not a free for all people think wisely!! PAY YOUR BILLS!!! There's always

FREE Cheese in a mouse trap!"

Though I agree people should use the money to meet their obligations, this message is a bit heavy handed. "Pay up, or you will regret it - you've been warned!"

Occasional Reader 3/30/2020 10:13:30 AM

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“The Appalachian Trail is CLOSED, man! A lotta freaks!”

- not Arlo Guthrie

https://wildeast.appalachiantrail.org/explore/plan-and-prepare/hiking-basics/health/covid19/

Occasional Reader 3/30/2020 12:22:57 PM

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Hooray, my Wahl Elite Pro haircutting kit has arrived from Amazon.

So: Whom to ask to cut my hair... Little OR's mom, or... Little OR... 

JCM 3/30/2020 12:36:12 PM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 15:

I vote Little OR and you must publish pics of the results.

Occasional Reader 3/30/2020 12:41:05 PM

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In #16 JCM said: I vote Little OR and you must publish pics of the results.

Jukebox

buzzsawmonkey 3/30/2020 12:44:27 PM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 17:

JUKEBOX

Syrah 3/30/2020 12:52:20 PM

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Shave and a hair cut.

Occasional Reader 3/30/2020 12:56:49 PM

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I shudder to think what my Amazon bill will look like during this upcoming credit card cycle.

Then again, my "dining out" total bill should be remarkably low... 

Syrah 3/30/2020 1:31:14 PM

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Governor Of Virginia shuts the state down till June 10.  

lucius septimius 3/30/2020 1:44:35 PM

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buzzsawmonkey 3/30/2020 2:55:09 PM

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In #22 lucius septimius said: On the whole, it looks like we've plateaued.

Whether or not you've Platoed plateaued depends on what the Aristotle virus-total ends up being.

Kosh's Shadow 3/30/2020 4:05:31 PM

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Reply to Syrah in 10:

I don't think COVID-19 is a bioweapon, but that it has genes that were being tested for a bioweapon.

It, itself, is not fatal enough.

But the long period of being contagious without symptoms, and the ability to hide from the immune system (some evidence of this) are useful. The first allows the virus to spread before the target realizes the attack; the second, makes it hard to get rid of.

These genes could have been tested in a harmless coronavirus and been picked up by another virus if the same host was infected by both.

There is also a possibility that there is something worse that happens later, and that is due to the latter gene

Kosh's Shadow 3/30/2020 4:09:28 PM

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Kosh's Shadow 3/30/2020 4:09:58 PM

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Had to go into work for part of the day.

One advantage - I got to use their toilet paper.

buzzsawmonkey 3/30/2020 4:14:39 PM

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In #27 Kosh's Shadow said:

This is the story---the incredibly fantastic story---of Kosh's Shadow Herbert A. Philbrick, who for nine frightening years did have three posts...

Syrah 3/30/2020 4:45:29 PM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 24:

i am hoping that our imagination is much more frightening than the reality. 

I had thought for a while that it had aspects of a bio weapon. 

One aspect of bio warfare, all warfare, is that you don’t necessarily need to throw a kill shot.  Sometimes a wounding is better than a kill. A wounded soldier takes three soldiers off of the battlefield. (Two to carry the wounded to the field hospital.) Also, a sick army is a poorly fighting army.

This may have been an unfinished virus. It could also just be a by product of batsoup. 

The proximity of the weapons lab to the wet market could be an issue that accounts for mad Mother Nature, or bad practices at a bio weapons lab, or both.

there is even a remote chance that somebody in the went bat-soup crazy and decided to do a 12 Monkeys on the world.

buzzsawmonkey 3/30/2020 4:46:59 PM

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In #30 Syrah said: It could also just be a by product of batsoup. 

Well, we've known for years that the Left is batsoup crazy.

Kosh's Shadow 3/30/2020 5:00:01 PM

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In #31 buzzsawmonkey said: Well, we've known for years that the Left is batsoup crazy.

Moonbatsoup