Thursday, April 30, 2020

Two things.

1. I've started calling Amazon - Santa - because every time they deliver something it feels like Christmas.

2. Mr S. thinks the raccoons or squirrels are drinking the beer we set out to kill pill bugs.

That is all.

Wednesday, April 29, 2020

That's a shame.

Ford and Lincoln cancel Rivian-powered electric vehicle due to the pandemic.

I honestly have zero opinion about this truck. I only know that it's the only car I've never been able to get close to. I have NEVER seen a crush of people like it. I couldn't even get good outside pictures! It was wall to wall people.

They were also handing out the best swag. I would have at least liked to get another shot at seeing the inside though.

Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Trying to stay sane in an irrational world.

Now updated with pictures.




Tonight I had some feelings to cram down. So we wound up in a fast food drive through and were placing our order when all of a sudden we heard a crash and the truck moved. We were like - what was that? Finally we realized someone had hit the back of our car.

We expected the person to get out and say sorry, but they stayed in their car. So I got out.

She still wasn't getting out so finally I asked her if she was okay. Immediately she says - you backed into me! I'm like - that's crazy. She's shoots back - you BACKED INTO ME. I'm not okay. I'm injured. I'm disabled! I live in that car.

Mr S. already gave her our information, but I kept trying to get her to give me hers. Then all of a sudden she's like I'm calling 911. Then starts to sit down on the pavement in the drive through isle.

There are two people behind us now and I have to tell them the woman is claiming to be injured.

She makes a huge dramatic scene apparently to 911 - because the fire department, an ambulance and four cops show up. For real. 

Mr S. went to move the truck so we could clear the drive through, and I guess that woman had left the car in drive because as soon as he moved - her car starting rolling without her inside.

The whole thing was quite the scene. The medics and everyone came sirens blazing.

The fast food place said they heard the whole thing, but didn't see it. They confirmed our story.

The whole thing was just the craziest thing ever. Be careful out there people.
My life now revolves around trying to figure out ways to kill pill bugs. I think my soil is about 68% made up of them.

AND THEY ARE WINNING. I have already wasted two beers. And they don't seem to be attracted to potatoes. How can this be possible?

Sunday, April 26, 2020

In more good news....

Those Tyson plant shutdowns have reached my area. And I would say in general this whole supply chain thing is crazy. I know they are killing animals right now because they have worker shortages. But getting chicken here in a restaurant is like pulling teeth. Maybe chickfila is hogging the whole chain. No joking aside - you could knock down three restaurants and replace them with chickfila's and it wouldn't be enough. The one in the city next to me - the line backs up to the freeway! Which is almost all the way around a full city block.

I'm still trying to support businesses from time to time. But every one of them is on a reduced menu and they have been having problems getting supply for weeks. So even if things open tomorrow - they probably couldn't even feed you! It just sucks for them so hard.

And stores are now doing stupid stuff like making rows one way streets. How does that benefit anyone? The same amount of people are in the isle. And it's probably not your native store right now, so it makes it super frustrating to find things because the new wave of shortages have begun.

Plus you always have that one girl  (let's call her Karen) saying - you are going the wrong way. I knew I was getting a little frayed today when I was glad that girl didn't say that to me. I would have told her to mind her own effing business.

As a side note - how much does it suck to wake up one day and your name is a derogatory term?

It's a crazy frankenvirus.

Coronavirus: First known victim in U.S. died of “burst” heart, pathologist says.

"A Santa Clara County woman now believed to be the first person in the U.S. killed by the novel coronavirus died of a ruptured heart caused by her body’s struggle to defeat the virus, her autopsy shows.

Patricia Dowd, 57, of San Jose, died at home on Feb. 6 of what seemed like a heart attack while suffering from what seemed like the flu. But this news organization reported Thursday that officials now say she had the coronavirus, which they didn’t know at the time."

I don't know how this is possible. But one thing is clear - it has a heart failure component. Every country reports it. And there are all those collapsing videos that are still coming out.

Now they are saying that it causing stroke in 30,40, and 50 years olds.

I am definitely calling it the Frakenvirus from now on.

Saturday, April 25, 2020

Sometimes you get just one shot.



And it's not great. But it was nice to see the old world. If just for a minute.

Friday, April 24, 2020

Crazy but plausible.

A Covid-infected attendee emerges from CES, a massive tech conference in January.

"While millions of people worldwide will likely have antibody tests that return positive results, Webber's outcome offers new insight into how the virus may have begun to spread. He was among more than 170,000 people who attended the Consumer Electronics Show between Jan. 7 and 10 in Las Vegas, a four-day event that attracted technology professionals from around the world."

The only reason I started watching the COVID virus the way I have, is because I went to CES. When I first learned about it, my eyes grey wide and thought - if this thing had hit literally 10 days earlier - this would be super crazy.

Mr S. and I both were in the incubation period for about a week which is why I started paying attention to it pretty hard.

CES is already a well known virus spreader. Everyone that goes gets sick. For the past couple of years I became super germaphobic in January. Everybody touches the devices there. You are pretty much guaranteed to be sick if you aren't diligent.

If this report is true..... I would not be surprised at all.

Let's see if heat kills it.

California is having it's first bit of heat this week. Southern California is in the high 90's. We are going to be close to 90 degrees. So... now we get to see if heat makes any difference at all. I'm betting not. You?

Also..... it seems there is a weekend pattern sort of. People I listen to have been saying it for weeks, and I haven't been sure. But there sure does seem to be a weekend lull. Perhaps it's delayed reporting. Or maybe it's because people resist going to the doctor. No one knows.

Thursday, April 23, 2020

Speculative for now.

Santa Clara County death data shows 20% increase in March, suggesting more coronavirus victims than previously known.

Maybe Stanford doesn't understand the meaning of random.

Feud over Stanford coronavirus study: ‘The authors owe us all an apology’.

"Researchers are engaged in a fierce debate over the startling estimates in a Stanford study that suggested as many as 81,000 people could already have been infected with coronavirus in Santa Clara County, with some of the world’s top number crunchers calling the study sloppy, biased and an example of “how NOT to do statistics.”"

I talked about this a couple of days ago. But I had forgotten all the local media had publicized the antibody test. That's how we found out.

If they had one in the burbs, Mr S. would have had the test.

Now, it could be true there is more exposure than we know. But the first people that are going to get the test are more likely to be positive because they have exposure in some way.



HT @yellingatwind

Giggle.

California superspeeders are racking up 100 mph tickets.

It wasn't me. But only because I know how expensive that ticket is. Wooooo. You have to hire a lawyer! This is not a good time for that kind of ticket. It will run you a few grand. I must add - that is before it hits your insurance. If you have multiple cars - it hits all of them.

I've been seeing the craziest damage on cars and lots of accidents that shut down freeways. Which is odd...... because the freeways are OPEN. Wide open. I knew it was speeders.

But I'm telling you - keep it under a 100. 

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Let them have the freedom to kill themselves.

I have solidly reached the - I .... DON'T ....GIVE .... A ... FUCK ... STAGE.

People are so embroiled in politics they have reached the point of insanity. I'm talking about you conservatives.

You see...... the media has cried wolf so many times that people don't believe they are in true danger. So let them go back to wherever they want to go, but they have to sign a release form. A BINDING RELEASE FORM. When you come down sick - you don't get to sue ANYBODY. You went back to work on your own volition.

I mean, seriously - people are being willfully ignorant at this stage. I don't know any flu that makes you have a leg amputated due to complications. I don't know any flu that routinely puts people into comas for 30 days. I don't know of any flu that causes organ failure the way COVID does. If people read the stories from the doctors..... they would be terrified. It's all the other things this virus does to your body. People have had to learn to walk again.

I know people need to make a living. I GET IT! That is a valid argument. But to say it's being overhyped is just insanity. So whatever.  Let them have the freedom to catch it if they want. It's the only way people will believe I guess. Let them be the first to open anything they want. We need guinea pigs anyway.
This morning I find it interesting that the same sites that are celebrating the study from Santa Clara saying the mortality rates are much lower than we think - are also reporting the story that the first deaths in Santa Clara came earlier than we thought.

Yet they never say the mortality could actually be much higher than we know due to unattributed deaths we didn't know about.

The new data is very plausible because they were still letting people voluntarily quarantine during that time. I wrote about people being quarantined at Mr S.'s office on Feb 20, and at that point they had been under quarantine for about a week. That roughly puts people coming back around Feb 6. My birthday.

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Guess what I learned today Ya'll.

It's no longer fashionable to be a "global citizen".        Poof. Just.... like.... that. Which was quite a shock to me.

I have been trying to keep to myself because I don't want to have to push back on anyone right now. I don't know why people can't just be normal. Everyone has their own little government conspiracy bubble going on and I think I've had enough of them.  I personally believe that incompetence explains most things. But I digress...

Today a neighbor was telling me she thought what was going on was "they" were trying to take over the government and create a one world government. All of sudden she was concerned "about her rights being taken away".

I'm sure she was talking about Trump because she is one of those pink pussy hat wearers. I took an immediate dislike to her because the first time I met her she described herself as a "global citizen" and used the phrase ugly Americans. By definition those people want the UN to run things. If there was another person in office she would be completely fine with that.

The other thing she is upset with today is that billionaires can buy bunkers. My reply was..... well - you aren't doing too bad yourself. Right? A lot of people could think you were pretty rich living in this neighborhood.

I mean seriously - she's a widower living in a house with a three car garage and she's acting like she's living in a tiny house in the bad part of town. I think I not so subtly told her to check her privilege. The other thing I don't understand about people is why they care what someone else is doing. Just handle your own business.

I don't envy any billionaire living in a bunker. THAT IS NOT LIVING! Fuck that! I of course would choose an island.

Now I'm not fine with what's going on at all. People are going to find out soon enough why socialism doesn't work. While I do NOT think Trump is a socialist - the effects will be the same. You can't print this much money and not have to pay for it later. And it's super irritating that people live the YOLO life and then aren't prepared for anything.

Monday, April 20, 2020

There is zero evidence of immunity.

COVID-19 'Immunity Passports' Stoke 'Grave Concerns'.

Limited or otherwise. I wish people would stop saying it. The whole weekend I saw nothing but this kind of talk. You see - there was an antibody test done in Santa Clara that claimed more people had it than we knew.

I'm going to go on record saying the people at Stanford drew the wrong conclusions because it was NOT a random test. It was likely people who had a higher risk and ran to be tested. I know because Mr S. has people in his office that were quarantined due to their travel to Wuhan.

Everyone who was taken down by a bug in December likely were in that study. Even Mr S. wanted to get tested.

Now, because everyone repeats this non verified information about immunity, people in the Bay Area feel their risk has passed because they have already been exposed.

----

I'd like to add that I think the reason the Bay Area has fared better is because early on they started triaging cases. On April 2, I got an email from a medical provider I see in Fremont who said they were separating respiratory cases from all other cases. I can't imagine all other providers did not do the same. At the time I thought it was pretty clever. It likely helped a LOT.

In China they were so overwhelmed that people who were positive walked from hospital to hospital spreading the virus as they went.

Who even knows what happens now.



That's almost all the percent!

The sad thing is - oil could fall to ZERO and California would still pay 2.45 a gallon for gas due to all the taxes. I might be being dramatic but....you get the idea.

Saturday, April 18, 2020

Another jailbreak.



It's only green for two seconds here. I have to.





That time you had to take your car apart to replace the battery.



This was part of my afternoon. To replace the battery in the Solstice you literally have to take off a quarter panel to get the battery out. It's the craziest design. I had to tape it all up so I didn't scratch the paint.





You learn a lot about supply chains I guess......



I think we are officially in the "this is getting old" phase. Every shopping experience is like a scavenger hunt. You often have to stop by four stores to get the things you need. Or want.

So.... I was in my normal store today and noticed the produce section was getting really thin. When I asked one of the produce guys about it he tells me that everyone was coming over from Safeway. Their produce section is stripped. I was a little shocked because the last time I was out (three days ago) the stores seemed to be getting more back to normal.

Of course I had to stop by and see if it was true. And it pretty much was. Usually Safeway has produce filled as tall as I am. Apples and such. Obviously I'm a little freaked because you know it's coming. Who is out picking the fields?! I'm thinking - I guess we have reached the next stage of supply disruptions.

Finally I'm at another store in the town next to me and I mention it to the checker and she goes - Oh.... have you heard the news? At this stage I tense up every time I hear this, because it's never good. She says the distribution center in Tracy is infected and someone died. I had heard about this, but  didn't realize it would trickle to this area. I guess is creating a trickle affect.



At yet another store I was looking to see if there were any paper products and I see this sitting on the shelf. It's pretty hilarious to see what people WONT buy. And who even knew they created a product for dudes - AND DUDES DON'T EVEN WANT IT!





Thursday, April 16, 2020



I got a plane contrail going through clouds which made it look like a tornado.

I have just about a million thoughts to untangle.

I always wondered how I would cope living in the country. Away from all the sounds of city life with nothing to keep me occupied but the thoughts in my head. Right now I think the quiet gets to me most.

It's hard to imagine how the world is going to look. On one hand you hope some of the companies that have been malingering on - living only on debt will finally be put out of their misery. I mean, who knew Neimann Marcus was still alive? On the other hand - you didn't want it to happen like this. It's like one day you woke up and someone said - Okay.... reinvent yourself. GO. Yo have one day.

It's all just a lot.

Sunday, April 12, 2020

A very mini Easter Crawl.



Happy Easter



This is Mr S.'s shot. I guess this is what he does before I get up now.

Saturday, April 11, 2020

Jailbreak.



There are so many people out - you almost feel like a sucker staying inside. But I'd say about 90% of people are wearing masks now. I almost did freak out on some old guy who needed to touch every single bulb of garlic while I was in the store. I watched him for two minutes!

He did have a mask on but I promptly put produce bags over my hands as gloves and moved all of the stuff on the top and picked from the bottom. I don't want people looking at me like I'm a jerk. That is also how I picked out potatoes and fresh corn. You kinda have to pick through that stuff and produce bag gloves makes everyone feel more comfortable.

Later when Mr S. and I were having our now weekly ramen picnic I said - I don't think you should be forced to wear a mask but it makes me feel better when people do.

He said - It's virtue signaling I can get behind.

Me - You think it's virtue signaling?

He says - Well yeah. I'm not protecting myself from you. I'm protect you from me. Wearing a mask says I care enough about your health that I'm willing to make the sacrifice.

(Back when I was at Moffett Field a few months ago, a guy was talking to me on a bus, and the sun hit him in just the right way where you could see the droplets that come out of people's mouth as they talk.

Like when the sun is just at the right angle you can see all the stuff floating in the air - you could see the particles that come out when this guy spoke. The virus was in the early stages but it made me super aware what a good radius is. You expect stuff to come out when you sneeze or cough, but you don't really think about it when people just speak)

Thursday, April 09, 2020

Chickfila is going to own this land after the pandemic. I'm sitting in a line 50 cars deep. Not even In-n-out is pulling people.

I guess resteraunts can survive on takeout only. IF YOU ARE CHICKFILA. They are going to emerge stronger.

Update - Saw my first altercation in the Chickfila line. Up until now everyone's been maintaining. It looked to me like a dive-bomber tried to cut in line. They were side by side yelling at each other. I'm not sure completely what the reason was - but they were having words.
I'm feeling like all those delivery bots I've been seeing for the past few years are bullshit. Said in the most sarcastic way.

And shouldn't those robot restaurants in San Fransisco be making a killing? Where are all the stories of a robot revolution!

Wednesday, April 08, 2020

John Woolfolk and Harriet Blair Rowan are complete hacks.

"New York, with about half California’s population, marked its first COVID-19 infection March 1. That same day, its mayor urged residents on Twitter to “get out on the town” while his San Francisco counterpart offered her constituents a list of ways to prepare for the outbreak." Source.

I'm starting to see a lot of this revisionist history shit today. So I thought I would screen shot what London Breed was up to literally ONE day before! Hint - it was race baiting people.

Then on March 1 - Scott Wiener attended an Answer International rally in downtown China Town. The link is from IndyBay which is a communist organization.

San Francisco Chinatown Rally: "The Virus is Our Enemy, Not China"





Source.

Tuesday, April 07, 2020

I'm telling you what they can't.



Source.

We are likely 4 weeks from a plateau.

I am not an epidemiologist, unlike everyone else on earth right now apparently (said in the most sarcastic way) nor do I play one anywhere - I can only tell you what I have observed from other countries. And I feel there are starting to be some troubling misconceptions.

Wuhan was shut for 77+ days. New York has only been shut down three weeks. Everyone keeps talking about how we are bending the curve. But as you can see the projected curve and the REAL curve have very different shapes. The projected curve is like a roller coaster. Up, then straight down. While as you can see from the chart above - the real curve is more like the curve of a rainbow.

The brown box on the chart is when the whole country of Italy went into lockdown. But the pink arrow is when they started shutting cities down. 10 cities were locked down on 2/22/2020. We are far from saying there is light at the end of the tunnel.

The other thing that is being passed around is that if you get the virus you have some sort of immunity. Which is wrong. There have been people saying there might be some limited immunity, but no one knows if that is true yet. To the contrary it has been known for many weeks that a certain amount of "recovered" positives can relapse. I think the number was 13 or 14%. We know this to be true because South Korea keeps reporting this.

Personally it's been confusing how, despite being under lockdown, cases can still increase in the way they do. But I heard a rumor this morning that in Iceland (I think) 43% of asymptomatic cases eventually turned into symptomatic cases. I don't have any verifiable data so this is just a rumor for right now. So maybe if you are a non symptomatic case quarantined with others and you have a 17 day incubation period - maybe you can have a couple of generations of people not having symptoms before the third person becomes symptomatic. If makes any sense.

It's just unusual that these countries keep accumulating so many cases after some pretty severe lockdowns.

Monday, April 06, 2020

The plant is mostly idled.



This weekend we drove by the Tesla plant solely because my ramen place is pretty much right next door  I want them to survive. People always wonder what their last meal might be, and I guess mine is ramen. They are still doing takeout and we've been doing ramen picnics in the bug out truck.

Anyway, I have never seen the Tesla parking lot so empty. I expected to see this place bulging with inventory but it wasn't. ALL of the car carriers are gone. They must have all gone home because usually they are parked everywhere on side streets in that part of town. There wasn't a single one. You know it's empty because this goose was blocking the road. This road is normally insanely busy.

He is storing cars in one of the overflow lots he rents.... but normally he has cars in his lots, cars in his neighbors lots, and a few paid overflow lots. I didn't check them all out because I wasn't there for that. I was there for ramen.

The transients are still there and the place is still a little mad max because of that.



A while back I'd read they had started putting boulders up to prevent them, but when I went to check it out a few months ago I realized that only the part in from of Seagate has boulders. Which I found funny. I hope they paid for those rocks but I bet they didn't.



Ya know... I spent a while hanging out with bums when I was growing up. They never burned their shit down. This new crop of bums burn shit down ALL the time. I just don't get it.

Sunday, April 05, 2020

It's raining and I'm playing Doom Eternal. Because I'm an adult.

Saturday, April 04, 2020

Tonight in fucked up pandemic news - Peru now has tanks on their border because Ecuadorians are fleeing into Peru. Everyone knows what is going on in Ecuador. Right? Super messed up. Life can be very cruel.

I'm almost more afraid of the hostilities between countries than I am the virus.

Normalcy.

Friday, April 03, 2020

America is still in the bargaining phase.

I haven't really talked about the virus ~that~ much in the past few days because people are in desperate need of hope. Every other day someone writes a story about how we are flattening the curve. And I get it. It's what we all hope.

Since (as a whole) we are a less dense population than China or even Italy you hope perhaps things will be slightly different. But, a couple of day blip does not make a trend. Italy's numbers might be going sideways - but they starting locking down cities AT THE END OF FEBRUARY.

In confessing my own sins... I've been going out every three days or so. Armed with a mask and alcohol swabs. I still need to replenish supplies and some takeout is still open. It's a hard battle between complete lockdown and hoping some of your favorite places get at least some income and will come back. But from what I have observed - there are still a lot of people out. I mean....go to a Chickfila. I'm betting you will be astonished. Because I was and I was in that line. Don't yell at me.

In my burb I've been watching how many people mask up. Two days ago it looked like finally maybe 30% of people were wearing them. The three days before that it was maaaaybe 10%. Even my chiropractor STILL wasn't wearing one after I'd given him a portion of a box. I finally gave him half a box of n95's and told him I couldn't give him anymore. See... my going out is an overall benefit to the community.

I think because we only have *minimal known reporting the burbs feel not as much at risk. But every time I'm in Silicon Valley proper I see a million license plates from my city. We have car lots here and people never seem to remove the license plate holders that identify my town. So if it's in Santa Clara it's pretty much in my town.

The asterisk is because my county is purposely not breaking the numbers down by city. They say it's because of patient confidentiality, but I know it's because people will panic. I honestly think the panic is better than what they are doing now because it is delaying people from taking this seriously. If you know there is a case in your city... you are going to start protection measures.

There are still an army of virus deniers. It's frankly unbelievable. But, Wuhan was locked down for at least 77 days. We are still really early days. This virus has done exactly the same thing all over the world. I don't think we have seen real lockdown yet. And I don't even know if it's actually possible. Hard lockdowns just cause people to fly to the wind like dandelions.

Thursday, April 02, 2020

A.I. before the pandemic.

It knows everything and can do anything!

Now - yeeeeah. We aren't really sure. Don't trust the models too much.