Tuesday, March 31, 2020

This pandemic was suppose to be an introverts dream. But now all my extrovert friends are needy.  They are all bored and coming out in weird ways.

Sunday, March 29, 2020

Nancy Pelosi implored everyone to visit Chinatown.



Here is a link to the Guardian article.

Now she's blaming Trump for letting people die? Pelosi criticizes Trump response to pandemic: 'As the President fiddles, people are dying'

For at least a week on the local news Nancy and London Breed were calling us all xenophobes.

Saturday, March 28, 2020

Glad I didn't listen to my enablers.

Empty freeways enticing some drivers to hit 100+ mph, CHP says.

"The California Highway Patrol has noticed them, too. “We are seeing a rise in motorists traveling at excessive speeds in the Bay Area,” CHP - Golden Gate Division said Friday in a Twitter post. 

“We are still out in force and will continue to issue citations. There is no faster way to get a suspended license than driving 100 mph+.” The tweet included a photo of several speeding tickets, including one for a 2015 Hyundai Sonata clocked at 117 mph.

But even before Bay Area shelter-in-place directives were issued in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, the CHP was warning lead-footed drivers to slow down. In a March 4 Facebook post, CHP - Golden Gate Division noted that highway patrol officers reported a spike in the number of 100-mph+ citations written in the nine Bay Area counties. “(In) February, an officer assigned to CHP - Hayward Area issued a driver a citation for going 133 mph on I-880,” the post stated, adding that the driver was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence."

A few days ago a guy I know said to me - you can drive as fast as you want on the freeways right now because they are empty and the cops won't pull you over.

Glad I didn't listen to THAT guy.

Friday, March 27, 2020

This is our life now.



It must be the first time they have sent out a push alert because everyone is freaking out. I live in the suburbs, but what difference does it make now. They are also converting the Santa Clara Convention Center into extra beds.

Santa Clara is the heart of Silicon Valley. It's where all the chip companies are.

The whole world is going to be super stabby.



Source.

The last week or so I've been having a lot of conversations with Mr S. about China. I feel they are in a very dangerous spot.  When you inflict this much financial damage to every country on Earth - when this crisis is under control - countries are going to want their pound of flesh.

My feeling is that countries are a little like gangs. If one gang kills someone from another gang - they will come back and kill two people. But since (hopefully) we are more civilized - they will just financial starve them. No company can depend completely on China for their needs again. Countries also can not afford to trust China in the same way.

Last night though Mr S. took it up a notch. He says to me - you think people are going to be mad at China..... just wait until they get mad at Saudi Arabia. Initially I'm like - yeah... and.

He goes on to say - Saudi Arabia just put all the other gulf states out of business. This is where my eyes grow wide because I always assume people are just trying to hurt us. Be he's right. None of the gulf countries can make any money now. And they are not exactly a rational culture. Let's all hope that none of this spreads to bullets.

Also the chart above is Louisiana light crude. Now at -6.50. On Doomberg two weeks ago someone claimed oil would go to negative 3 bucks barrel. At the time I wasn't sure. But I hope you have all emptied all your bathtubs so we have a place to put oil. Said in the most sarcastic way.

I'm not really sure where the Saudi's are going with this. They either need the money really badly, or they are probably going to war with some of their neighbors.

Thursday, March 26, 2020

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Shelter in place thoughts.

When I see people who embrace socialism I usually think they should be forced to live in a socialist country. I"m pretty sure it would cure most peoples love affair.

But luckily I think they will soon get to find out without even leaving this country.

Of course I dont think Trump is a socialist- but the result of all this money printing will be the same.

We get to find out if the housing recession was the exception rather than the rule. We did not experience hyperinflation because people hoarded money rather than spending it.
I found out today that you can't really use the excuse you "have things to do" to get off the phone right now.

I have a girlfriend who will literally try to torch four hours of my day if I let her. And as I was rolling that out - I realized that is not a thing. We are all trapped in our houses.

What's going to happen when the bears get hostile?

One of the more fascinating things to come out of this crisis is videos of animals not being able to care for themselves. I told you about the monkeys who were starving. Now there is this video out where pigeons are swarming an old lady for food.

Apparently our kindness has created an overpopulation of sorts. There are so many animals now that all of them sort of can't survive in nature on their own.

Last night Mr S. and I were talking about this. After I showed him the video he goes - That is fascinating and scary.

Me - Why do you think that?

Him - What happens when they start getting aggressive?

Me - PIGEONS?!

Him - Well... not pigeons.... but there are other animals like bears.

I look at him and my mind is blown. Because I didn't think that far down the food chain. Bears depend on us too! They normally raid our trash. Well not mine, but you get the idea.

Less people means less trash and so forth.

Saturday, March 21, 2020

This <---



Since the virus deniers are still out in full force today - I am posting this. It is consistent with the videos I saw out of China and Iran. They had to restrain these people because they kept trying to claw their ventilators out of their faces. Truly like they were downing..

It is really sad to see EVERYTHING is playing out exactly the same as in China. The whole thing is completely surreal to me. And to see people politicizing this to serve their purpose is evil and wrong.

Just look at the hospital rate in Santa Clara County! They have consistently been a day behind in their reporting. So, below is current. The hospital rate is currently 35%.

My county just announced via twitter that rescue personnel will be showing up in protective gear.

They dont want people to be alarmed.

Pictures I should have posted. Day 1.



At CES this year they had a working city diorama. The cars moved. The train moved. And the VTOL went up and down.

Friday, March 20, 2020

Called it!

Police investigating ‘disturbing trend’ of teens coughing on produce.

"PURCELLVILLE, Va. (KRON) – Police are warning of a “disturbing trend” after a group of teens were caught on camera coughing on produce at a grocery store, then posting it on social media."

I guess the over/under was eight days.

People reveal their true preferences.



I find it sort of fascinating what people will not buy right now. With so many shelves still sold out.

There is still no TP in the store I went to today. No pasta and very little water.

It's almost like they are saying - If I'm going to die..... it's not going to be on a diet. You can still find plenty of whole grain bread and pop chips. Who would have guessed people would pass on pop chips?

This ~might~ explain the collapsing videos.



I have only seen one person say this. And we don't believe anything until we see it confirmed by a few people. Right?

Personally I was pretty confused by the videos I saw because if you were that sick - why would you collapse in the middle of a road for instance. But if they had a super higher fever, maybe they were not in their right minds. No pun intended.

You can read his full timeline here.



Thursday, March 19, 2020

Murphy's law.



After imploring people to stay healthy at all costs - I had a coffee table accident two days ago. I'm fine. I'm fine. I was able to mow two lawns today. That's how you know I'm really fine.

Normally this would not be a story. I've just never had a roaming bruise before. It's an example of how doing nothing might send you to the clinic. I was simply getting off the couch and my power cable was wrapped around my leg apparently, and I jammed my foot into a coffee table. Still not a story.

The thing that makes it unusual, is yesterday this started out with a bruise about the size of a lime by my two smallest toes. Throughout the day yesterday it kept expanding. A day after the accident. First one toe then two. It also kept creeping up the arch of my foot. Last night it looked pretty crazy. Very purple. But I could walk on it. It just looked way uglier than it was.

This morning I woke up and it looked 50% better! I'm feeling awesome that I don't have to visit a clinic.

Then I decided to go out to see if I could find more zinc. Which means I had to put shoes on. A little like stuffing a sausage into a shoe. But I could do it - so I still think it's fine.

Now some of the purple is returning near my toes. It's even bruised on the underside which is pretty impressive even for me!

Once I was taking a pictures in the vineyards and was using a rock to get elevation. I'd tested the rock before I stood on it - but as soon as my full body weight hit it - the rock rolled and I fell into a stump that held the grape wires. It landed right in my sternum. Thankfully it did not have a point or else I would have died right there. Not even being dramatic.

It's still funny because I could have fallen 358 degrees in any direction. But I had to fall the one way that could have killed me.  It took me about a month before I could take a deep breath.

Be SUPER careful people. And don't make fun of my Fred Flintstone feet.



Wednesday, March 18, 2020

People had lost their minds...



And fear of bubble charts. Now is not the time to gloat. But humans never seem to learn.

When Tesla is up 100% in six months! That should have been a warning sign to everyone!

Watch for a second wave in China.

Last night I started reading that Chinese students were flooding back to China because they believed it was the safest place on earth. You see - China has been convincing people that their outbreak has completely run it's course. Despite China knowing early on that you can get infected with this thing over and over.

I don't know what the truth is. But I guess we get to find out.

All of a sudden everyone is a math genius.

The saddest failure of all was people parroting China's numbers with such emphatic confidence. They are still doing it today, and are frankly doubling down on numbers that are not real.

I didn't really think age made a difference but couldn't prove it. In China there were reports of full families and apartment blocks being wiped out. It was hard to know if these stories were true. And only when it spread to the rest of the world could we see the truth.

Italy had 475 deaths today. They have been in some stage of lockdown for a couple weeks.

Oh.... and anyone using the phrase "best guess" to cherry pick numbers needs to stop it.

Captivity snowman.



We had a hail storm roll in yesterday. Which is not a story. It hails every year.

Being California.... it pretty much melts within five or ten minutes once it hits the ground. But I'd just planted all those onions and I don't need hail right now.

I had to go out in the rain and hose down my onions so the hail didn't damage them. After an hour an a half it still hadn't melted so I made a tiny snowman. Which is pretty unusual. I don't have snowman making skills so the nose is a wire nut. And the eyes are pepper corns.



Tuesday, March 17, 2020



Source.
On a scale from 1 - 10 (10 being the worst) how insulting is it that Jack Ma has to send us masks? We own 3M for christ sakes!
I am not a fan of "shovel ready projects"..... but if there was ever a time to fix the roads - THIS IS IT. While we are all locked down.

It would probably cost less per mile because the roads are wide open instead of gridlocked with traffic. They could effing do two lanes at once!

Monday, March 16, 2020

Fun to see "it's just the flu" bros still all over the place. There is no possible way we could have locked this country down a month ago.

People have to start dying for this to be taken seriously. Rumor is in Seattle - they won't even do cashless deliveries anymore. Remember a week or two I talked about the paranoia between neighbors. Well... that has started.

Everyone telecommuting.

Stephen, this is Clem Fandango. Can you hear me?

We are going to face some crazy choices in the next few weeks.

In the Bay Area we have an immense homeless population. Everyone is aware... right?

Well... one of the weird side effects of not having people on the streets is that in other countries monkeys are starving. Because people hand out food to them all the time, there are roving gangs of hostile monkeys. Now I'm not calling homeless people monkeys!!! Settle your asses down and stay with me for a moment. I'm only providing an example of what may come.

Apparently in tourist areas where people feed monkeys - they can't survive on their own. You get where I'm going with this? Less foot traffic means not as much money being handed to the homeless.

It's not only the virus that's a concern but actual starvation. I don't even know how this is all going to play out. But it's intense for sure.

Also.... what happens when they shut down the restaurants? The stores are stripped bare. How are people going to eat?

This.



I am a HUGE fan of free trade because I believe that countries that trade with each other don't go to war. What we had with China was not free trade. It was a stacked deck based on rules set in place half my life ago when China was an emerging economy. They are now the second largest economy on earth and letting them keep rules set in place 20 years ago is a stacked deck.

Having said that.......China is in a very dangerous spot right now. A LOT of countries are going to come to the same conclusion as the person above.

When it skipped to Iran I asked Mr. S. if he thought Iran would go to war with China. He said no because Iran knows China will wipe them off the map. But now that every single country on the planet is involved in this... things are very dangerous for China. Most countries don't have the impulse control we have.

Sunday, March 15, 2020

Store stories are pretty interesting right now.



I think tomorrow this enters a new phase. People have been very pleasant up until now. But the shelves are getting pretty stripped and people are going to change fast.

I just went for the pictures today. Which I know is not wise. But since I am the only one doing that - people have stopped to talk to me. People always make small talk, but since the recession people don't share as much. We mostly don't want to know your inside thoughts. So the change is interesting.

One lady stopped to tell me she had lived in Poland during the iron curtain. I was shocked because I wouldn't have pegged her to be any older than me. She told me about the stages they went through with toilet paper.

First it started out with brown paper. I think sort of like public restroom paper towels. Then went to paper (that again I'm guessing) is like the public restroom doilies. I've had to use that in a pinch. Then she said they went to real paper. It all was pretty fascinating. But the whole story sort of made my butt hurt.



I think it's super fascinating to see what people refuse to buy. Apparently people would rather die than buy whole grain bread. AMAZING. All those people who say they love it are liars!



What difference does it make now? I mean if they had set limits earlier, would it have been better or panicked people more? What's the right answer?







You can still find flour.



The eggs were gone. Which was surprising because the only thing I'm sure we can get locally is eggs!



Every single onion gone at this store. I'm going to be popular.

Because I still have a blog to entertain.



I imagine at some point I will start blending in B roll stuff. Thankfully a TON of stuff never makes to the blog because I get a stick up my butt.

Usually I get home and hate all the shots I take. Other times more interesting stuff steps on things. I mean .....there are a million different reasons. Maybe I'm funky that day. Seriously.

Saturday, March 14, 2020

The news out of California is horrible today.

I just got a chance to catch up on local news. And it suuuuuuucks.

Coronavirus in the Bay Area: 17 new cases in Santa Clara County.

This brings the total cases in Santa Clara County up to 91.

Of the 91 total confirmed cases, 15 cases are associated with international travel, 27 were in close contact with a known case, and 40 are presumed community transmission cases.

38 people are hospitalized, according to county health officials.

That means...... 41% need hospitalization  right now. Much higher than the 20 percent I've been talking about.

In addition to that - MANY San Jose firefighters have been infected. The number was 2 just yesterday (I think). All the numbers change so fast. Now it's at least eight, and one of them is in already in grave condition.

Restaurants in San Fransisco that serve more than 100 people have been ordered to close for SEVEN WEEKS.

Conversations from the TP aisle.



Apparently things got crazy overnight. I was just at the store yesterday morning and you could still find most stuff. You could still find flour. TP was starting to be a problem but water was still there. Cold medications and alcohol have obviously been gone for days. But everything else seemed okay - just yesterday.

I have been stocked up for almost two weeks, but still go to the store every couple of days to get grass for Lacie. I'm not a prepper, but I do always have earthquake water on hand. It's pretty much the bare minimum of preparedness. We DO sort of always have to have a plan in the back of our minds because we normally don't get to prepare for disasters. Usually you just wake up one day and all your shit is on the ground. What you have is what you have.

I was in Loma Prietta so I have sort of a rough idea of what happens when you go through major service disruption. Anyway....

There have been a lot of conversations in the TP isle. Today a lady was telling me she had five kids - and suddenly no toilet paper. I tried to help her think of alternatives like fancy napkins even though they are crazy expensive. Another woman was looking for water which was suddenly sold out. She says to me - this is political right? I respond - no this is not political. I tried to tell her the virus was extremely contagious. Told her to wash her hands and open doors with the lower part of her shirt. I also told her that Home Depot might still have bottled water in the garden section like they did TWO days ago. I showed her pictures.

After I get out of the store Mr S. thinks he should have gotten a couple more mini waters but we were fine. I say.... Home Depot might still have all that water - maybe we should get one. So we head to Home Depot.

I hop out on the garden section side and they didn't even have that area open. You aren't stealing our garden plants in this crisis! JK.  I couldn't see if the water was still there, so I went to go inside and realized - PARSLEY. They sell live parsley. Lacie is used to fresh grass and carrots all the time, so if that stops - live parsley buys me time. I need to make sure her GI stays healthy.

Went to go pay for the parsley and I spot that woman I just told about the water at the other store. I ask her were she found the water.  She must have RUN there because I went directly from the previous store we were both in. After she tells me, she again says that she thinks this is politically motivated. Something about Google. She's a teacher and a lot of crazy things are happening. I admit Google is an asshole but this is real.

I try to explain to her again to take this seriously. It's not political. Countries don't risk their entire economies on politics. Anyone that was in office would be going through the same thing. But she didn't believe me.

It's just sad that people are so blinded by politics. Things that are politically motivated benefit the person who does it. How does this benefit Trump?



I think this is the TP isle. I don't even know anymore! It's not my native store. But it does have the best grass in town.



Oddly no one seems to be thinking about banging. Condoms were the only thing that looked untouched.

















Even the onions were started to look thin!



Oddly - every single store in my town has these drive and pick up stalls. I have never ever seen anyone use one of them. But I bet they become popular now.

Friday, March 13, 2020

And Republicans wonder why so many people embrace socialism.

"One of the things I see in China is the ability of the leadership obviously the communist authorization government to bring people together and to direct them."

I just transcribed this exact quote from Lou Dobbs. This makes China seem like the hero kinda. China didn't "bring people together"! They brutally beat people! They welded people into their apartment buildings for christ sakes! It's intellectually dishonest to say China brought people together.

The solution to every problem in China is to beat people. And to have a Republican phrase this situation that way just boggles the mind. No wonder people don't understand communism or socialism. So frustrating.

Everyone on both sides needs to stop politicing this.

March 9 - there were 607 infected. 22 dead.
March 10 -  788 - 28 dead.
March 13 (today) - 1700 infected. 40 dead. My local news claims there are 47 dead.
Just last night my husband was talking to his sister in Ohio. She was pretty chill. Said there were only four cases.  Offered to send supplies if needed because everything was normal there.

This morning Mr S. texts me to say his sister said they closed all the schools this morning. That moment of zen was quick.

Thursday, March 12, 2020

Okay - what's the over under on this?



With Video over at BNO.

I have actually seen people doing this in China and Iran. Some of the first reports out of Iran were of them arresting a guy in a subway spitting. In China I saw people taking the escalator spitting over and over as well as other videos'

Honestly it was one of the more unexpected things to see of of a zombie apocalypse.  The movies don't cover that. But lot of other stuff seems to be tracking so... I'd say it only a matter of time. People really are the same the world over.

It's like a movie I have already seen the ending to.

The frustrating thing about this whole crisis is that Trump needed to set a quarantine last week. But no one would have believed him and there are still tons of people who think this is an overreaction. Then when things get crazy - AND THEY WILL - he is going to be blamed for not acting fast enough. It's so sad.

Everyone went through the "it's just the flu stage". EVERYONE. We just need to move past that and change as the facts change.

I think the most troubling thing about the world today is that the media cried wolf so many times that we no longer have a mutual sense of what's real and not  real. I've seen it over the past six months that people tell me they don't know what is real anymore. Things I clearly thought were common knowledge. So, I understand why people are behaving this way.

I can assure you - this virus is hell on earth. 20% of people will need serious medical intervention. And it feels like you are drowning. Not only that - people who recover become reinfected. In China they said 14% of cured patients came up with the disease again. This thing sort of shape shifts.

I wasn't sure if this was going to track the same but yesterday there started to be confirmation  in Hong Kong.


Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Man.... you have to be super butt hurt if you were in Tesla. Down almost 300 bucks a share from the all time high.

My plate was popular today.



Finally... people get me.