Randomness XVI: Brains versus Bleach - an Epic Rap Battle in Iambic Pentameter.

[Doug Sundseth]

1 hour ago, Kangaroorex said:

Unfortunately, this one is unlike the SARS virus which we (as a race) were able to contain to one region and burn out, the Covid-19 is in the general public and will be with us for the rest of eternity.  I suppose we could get lucky and it could be a non-mutating form, but I'm not holding my breath.  I am hoping it stays rather innocuous and doesn't take a turn for the really nasty in the future.

 

From my research, coronaviruses (including SARS, Covid-19, and the common cold) mutate slowly relative to their total genetic code because they're quite large as viruses go. So the typical mutations don't have much effect on the ability of your immune system to recognize and attack them.

 

Which isn't to say that they won't mutate, just that they probably won't mutate quickly.

[Pegazus]

Dear Diary,

 

Day 2 of Request-You-Stay-Home: Killed three zombies this morning that appeared to be formerly vibrant and alive girl scouts. They kept mumbling “toilet paper”, “TOILET PAPER” over and over. Poor girls. Rummaged through their belongings and only found an empty box of thin mints in the wagon they had tied to one of them. They all had bits of TP hanging out the sides if their mouths, as if they were eating the rolls for some strange reason. Must explain the shortages I find in the well-attended abandoned grocers. Made a mental note to carry an extra roll when I go out again to forage for food. Tossing a half used roll at the fiends might distract them long enough to get away.

[Jasper_the_2nd]

Geez, I go away for the weekend and it takes until Tuesday afternoon to get caught up...you'd almost think something big was going on in the news.....

 

Working from home here starting today.  Brought home everything but my monitors from work.  I just swapped one of my home ones over to the laptop for an extra screen.

Picked up some "extra" minis in preparation for not leaving the house much for the next while. Plus my wife headed to the next province over today for an important medical appointment (after calling to make sure it was still a go) and won't be back until Friday, so extra hobby time (or tv time if I'm slack). 

I'll need to run out later, if the pharmacy was able to get my asthma puffer in (I'm not out, but have no spares).  Apparently they are in short supply, which I guess isn't too surprising as it is a bronchodilator, so is probably helpful in treating the symptoms of the bad cases. She was hoping to get enough in this afternoon.  

 

 

 

[Inarah]

Day seven with no internet or TV.  Service guy due this afternoon.  DH has been told to work from home if possible, otherwise they are setting up two shifts to keep employee contact minimal.  The company is closed for business to the public but there are still projects for the corporate office people. There will likely be lay offs at lower levels.  I feel bad for the foreign contract  employees who are going to be let go and will find themselves unemployable and unable to go home. 

 

Going to start a daily walking routine. I did this several years ago. I have a route through the neighborhood that is one mile long.  Today the end of the street is a good goal.

 

Corned beef thawing. Going in the crock pot in about an hour.

 

 

[Gadgetman!]

51 minutes ago, Grumpy Cave Bear said:

 

Oregon recycles of course, and you can recycle bottles and cans.  But Oregon also has a bottle bill that predates recycling.  Every soda can and bottle has a 10-cent refundable deposit, and if you just toss them into your recycling bin, you’re giving up that deposit.

 

Getting back the deposit involves returning them to the store, or increasingly now, returning them to a centralized bottle drop station.

 

Collecting and returning soda cans is a good bit of pocket change for the homeless in Oregon.

 

We have a similar system here in Norway. Bottles and cans up to 0.5L generally pays 2NOK($0.25 on a good day) and larger bottles goes for 3NOK.

Over 95% of bottles and 97% of cans are recycled here. 

8 out of 10 bottles or cans found floating about is forreign...   

Machines that accepts, scans and pay out the deposit is big business here. 

And for the gamblers, the Red Cross owned machines are 'instant lottery' machines so that you can choose to get a payout or gamble the money. 

 

Back when I puttered about on my Chinesium moped, I used to collect bottles. And back then the payout was 1NOK and 1.5NOK, but it still covered fuel, oil, new tires and other supplies for the moped. 

 

Incidentally, my car is always worth at least 3000NOK ($330 - 350) becaue that's the recycling deposit for cars these days. 

 

 

[Kangaroorex]

3 minutes ago, Gadgetman! said:

Incidentally, my car is always worth at least 3000NOK ($330 - 350) becaue that's the recycling deposit for cars these days. 

 

 

I have owned cars that were worth less than that...  one of them had a sunroof and a glass bottom (large holes in the roof and floorboards and the only thing I had on hand to patch them was calking and slabs of Lexan -- don't ask where the Lexan came from, I promise that you do not want to know!)

 

35 minutes ago, Doug Sundseth said:

 

From my research, coronaviruses (including SARS, Covid-19, and the common cold) mutate slowly relative to their total genetic code because they're quite large as viruses go. So the typical mutations don't have much effect on the ability of your immune system to recognize and attack them.

 

Which isn't to say that they won't mutate, just that they probably won't mutate quickly.

True enough but they do eventually change and we get them again or worse, they get caught in a person with dual viral infections or a retrovirus and do a little DNA swapping then that virus gets into the mainstream.  there is a lot we don't know about how viruses work but I hope that each time this happens we learn a little more and eventually we can get to the point where we can control the little buggers.  They can be useful, we just have to figure out how without setting off the zombie apocalypse (I may have read one too many scify/horror zombie stories...)

 

[NebulousMissy]

1 hour ago, Marvin said:

Hmm. Area and population density.

 

People don't seem to understand that shutting down a country the size of the US is a bit more complicated than shutting down one the size of Arizona.

 

Good morning to everyone except people not covering their mouths to cough.

 

I also retract my good mornings from people who cough correctly but then spit loogies full of virus onto the pavement to lurk and remain infectious and spread unchecked.

[Marvin]

I obtained meat!

 

...sorta.

 

Hit the little grocery in the small town south of here. They weren't in terrible shape. Grabbed some Johnsonville brats, kind of a once-in-a-blue-moon lark meal that seems fitting for the apocalypse (forgot buns tho); and then some ground sausage and a package of frozen patties that I hope will be fine; and some thick-sliced bacon that, aside from being thick-sliced, will be just fine. Also got some eggs. So now I guess I've gotta cook eggs. Meh.

 

Could not get hamburger. Or a bag of potatoes. Or frozen biscuits, so got some cans.

 

I haven't bought baking supplies because I don't really know how to bake.

 

Possibly the only upside to the #coronapocalypse: It's kind of turned shopping for grocery and household goods into a collectibles game. Gotta catch, etc. It's ridiculous, but--and feel free to call me crazy here--it's also a little fun in the same way assembling and collection is fun.

 

Still need: rifle ammunition, baby chicks.

[Green Eyed Monster]

5 hours ago, TGP said:

There was a segment on 60 minutes last Sunday about driverless, autonomous big rigs. They were talking about driving non-stop, coast-to-coast in two days. No stops except for fuel. They are already road testing these things. 

I know.

And they aren't ready for any more than experimental production and use.

Also, they don't function very well in any sort of adverse weather.

Winter driving?  Fugedabout it.  If the local Chain Law is in effect the truck is effectively useless and disabled as there is no way for it to chain up/chain down, not to mention many of the sensors will be unable to function.  There are people who provide chain up/down service but they get big $$$$ for doing it and there aren't enough of them to take on extra rigs.  Plus, this service is only available on the most heavily traveled routes.

As for fueling.  Truck stops aren't "full service" when you get ~your~ rig to the pumps its up to you the driver to operate the pump.  Truck Stops are going to want an extra $50 or more per fillup for having to have extra employees just to service these otherwise helpless robots.

And the two days ballyhoo is in perfect conditions, including no traffic congestion when going through urban areas.  One traffic jam and the theoretical schedule goes away, with the likelihood of further delays going up dramatically.

I have friends who have made a coast to coast run in less than 50 hours, but on a motorcycle, not a big rig.  The average speeds required to accomplish this are above the truck speed limit in multiple jurisdictions.  Team operation trucks routinely make coast to coast runs with the only stops being for fuel.  There are a lot of husband and wife teams out there and they earn good money for it.  But most of them will tell you that it requires perfect conditions to even come close to a two day run and that isn't 48 hours but more likely 2 1/2 days or slightly over.

One delay at a crowded weigh station and there goes the schedule.

GEM

4 hours ago, TGP said:

 

I am aggravated at Walmart and all the other corporations that copied them to survive. (But if you like you can blame Toyota...it’s not like Wallyworld engages in original thinking.)

 

https://study.com/academy/lesson/just-in-time-inventory-definition-advantages-examples.html

 

https://bizfluent.com/info-8667476-disadvantages-justintime-inventory.html

 

https://www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/research/dstools/jit-just-in-time-manufacturing/

 

There is a reason we run out of things when there is any crisis, or emergency, or Hurricane, or panic, or whatever. 

 

The whole economy of the US is deliberately designed to breakdown easily if there is an unexpected event. 

 

Efficiency = Profit$ = Vulnerability to Disruption

Efficiency = Profits = Vulnerability to Disruption = Likelihood of profits being reduced/disappear.

I predict the net effect by year end of all the Chicken Little Hoarder activity will be a reduction in profits.

GEM

4 hours ago, Doug Sundseth said:

 

And essentially everybody had a vehicle to evacuate in. Which is not the case in most of the world.

Vehicle becomes a driveway ornament when the capability to refuel goes away.

GEM

[TGP]

2 hours ago, Doug Sundseth said:

3 hours ago, Kangaroorex said:

Unfortunately, this one is unlike the SARS virus which we (as a race) were able to contain to one region and burn out, the Covid-19 is in the general public and will be with us for the rest of eternity.  I suppose we could get lucky and it could be a non-mutating form, but I'm not holding my breath.  I am hoping it stays rather innocuous and doesn't take a turn for the really nasty in the future.

 

From my research, coronaviruses (including SARS, Covid-19, and the common cold) mutate slowly relative to their total genetic code because they're quite large as viruses go. So the typical mutations don't have much effect on the ability of your immune system to recognize and attack them.

 

Which isn't to say that they won't mutate, just that they probably won't mutate quickly.

 

Someone has nicknamed it (or them if there are two variants) the....

 

Kung Flu. 

[Green Eyed Monster]

3 hours ago, Kangaroorex said:

 

Because viruses are mutable creatures and will change pretty much on an annual basis meaning that just because you got version A this year does not mean you are immune to version B this year.  there are even some studies (believe them as you will) that show that being immune to one strain can make you more susceptible to another because your immune system keeps attacking the wrong spot

 

It boils down to why its a different flu shot every year.  They find the most common viruses, develop the dead or weakened strains of the most common mutations and inoculate you for them.  If the virus mutates halfway through the year than that shot is worth absolutely nothing.

 

Unfortunately, this one is unlike the SARS virus which we (as a race) were able to contain to one region and burn out, the Covid-19 is in the general public and will be with us for the rest of eternity.  I suppose we could get lucky and it could be a non-mutating form, but I'm not holding my breath.  I am hoping it stays rather innocuous and doesn't take a turn for the really nasty in the future.

 

 

 

from my experience:

Just in time inventory -> increased personal wealth for a very few -> decreased resilience

 

In general the system works as long as everything goes right and sufficient redundancies are in place.  the problem is that someone has to hold that inventory if you want the redundancy and that person or corporation is not going to be making as much money unless something goes wrong with the system.  My company shows this in their raw material buying.  normally we run raw material inventory at 2 days, however, when we see a potential disruption we increase those inventories to 2 weeks.  Our company has the storage and capacity to handle that between storage tanks and rail car spurs and we are high enough up the finished goods chain that our suppliers come real close to pumping it out of the ground, allowing mother nature to be our redundancy

 

but for something like toilet paper (to name a popular one) they can only produce so much in a day but they also have to have the treatment chemicals, the tree pulp and the packaging to get their product out. if any one of these paths fail, they cannot make their product. and since the pulp mills are also running hand to mouth, there is no room for a plant to switch on short notice so production levels have to stay at a certain rate regardless of demand

 

On the flip side too much inventory has other issues in that a lot of intermediaries are unstable and keeping them for a rainy day can result in unusable raw material which has to be written off as a loss.  So companies have to walk a pretty fine line between inventory and production and a smart company spends a lot of time and effort on this balance.  The problem comes when someone in the chain makes the decision for profit over stability and guesses wrong.  in this day and age that guess does not just affect the company that made the mistake but a lot of others up and down the commodities train and lately, in order to make shareholders happy, a lot of companies are making that profit decision

 

Is it right or wrong, I am not one to tell. but it does make the system more fragile.  I can hope that this causes some federal agencies to rethink their stance on mergers and megacorps but it probably wont happen.

Add in the fact that the warehouse will only hold so much newly produced product and if the trucks/railcars don't show up to move it to the next link in the distribution chain the whole of production starts to back up.  I've personally dealt with the flip side of this, where production isn't keeping up with the trucks moving the product out and product coming off the transfer belt is dropping straight through a surge bin into my tanks.

GEM

[kristof65]

One would think that since I've been working from home since 2006 that this social distancing because of the pandemic wouldn't be affecting me much - but my mental health is taking a serious beating. 

I did not realize just how much I need to get out to a restaurant or a store a couple times a week. 

[TGP]

6 hours ago, Crowley said:

As is NY and CT. They coordinated. Which, I guess is nice, in the absence of federal action.... *sigh*

 

Shutting down local businesses is kinda  not within the limits of federal power. 

 

That level of (hard) decision is what mayors and governors are for......pretty much the point of having them. 

 

~~~~~~~~~

 

3 hours ago, Serenity said:

RTB Pro Tips! Giant Weasel Fur! Part 2! SKU:03897 with Anne started shortly after 11 AM.  She's continuing to work on the giant weasel modeled on ferret colors.  She is working at home, and said she'll be taking over for Ed's Terrain Tuesday stream today at 3 PM.

 

https://www.twitch.tv/reaperminiatures

 

 

What is Ed up to?  Oh wait, he had a sniffle didn’t he?

Edited March 17, 2020 by TGP

[NebulousMissy]

1 minute ago, TGP said:

6 hours ago, Crowley said:

As is NY and CT. They coordinated. Which, I guess is nice, in the absence of federal action.... *sigh*

 

Shutting down local businesses is kinda  not within the limits of federal power. 

 

That level of (hard) decision is what mayors and governors are for......pretty much the point of having them. 

 

Add on top of that the federal government's ability to ignore local and state orders on federal property. Oh the state says everything's shut down? Mandatory curfew that closes down your state halfway into your shift? Public transit shut down at night so you can't even get home after work? Well then I guess we'll just make extra sure our federal workers are told to come in to work or else.

 

While I am union, striking is a fireable offense for me so we can't even do a walk-out to save our lives... 

[Glitterwolf]

@Marvin

 

My sympathies, our furred friends always go to soon.