Ravan's Rants

Still Here, Sort Of

ravan — Sat, 12 Oct 2024 03:32:18 GMT

I'm still here, but actually posting only over on Dreamwidth. The editor here is a fugly blinding white, crossposting doesn't work, so I do most of my stuff over on Dreamwidth. I have the same username.

New Year "Predictions"

ravan — Sat, 01 Jan 2022 06:56:39 GMT

So, here are my wishes and cynical predictions:

So, what I want to see:
1. Manchin and Sinema ave "Road to Damascus" conversions to at least semi prograssive views
2. Voting rights gets passed
3. The Build Back Better act gets passed
4. The sedition caucus is expelled from Congress and tried
5. The lawsuits against the states that are fucking over voting rights are successful
6. The Jan 6th conspirators are indicted, arrested and tried, including the top one
7. Qanon folds up like wet tissue paper due to scandals of pedophelia and corruption
8. The crooked justices that McConnell crammed onto the Supreme Court are impeached for corruption and lying to Congress
9. McConnell retires in disgrace
10. An international consensus is reached and the US gets on board
11. The Omicron variant turns out to be significantly less damaging even though its R0 is over 10
12. The Dems sweep the house and senate in the midterms
13. Marijuana is legalized nationally, and marijauna convictions are expunged
14. Texas' abortion rights attack is shot down

What I am afraid I'll see:
1. Manchin and Sinema turn Republican, giving McConnell back the Senate
2. Dem initiative likes BBB and Voting Rights are dead in the water
3. The Jan 6th commission is toothless, and their criminal referrals are ignored by the toothless DoJ
4. The lawsuits against the states fail due to partisan SCOTUS
5. The Jan 6th caucus increases and takes over the House
6. Qanon become mainstream and the Proud boys are the new brownshirts
7. SCOTUS becomes increasingly partisan without shame or brakes
8. Multiple countries, including the US, ignore climate change and actively make it worse
9. Yet more variants ravage the population as vaccination efforts are sabotaged by the GOP
10. The Dems lose the House and the Senate in the midterms, setting the stage for a successful right-wing coup
11. The GOP doubles down on the "War on Drugs" and its War on Women and War on Minorities
12. Right wing terror squads start stlking the cities and doing armed voter intimidation and murder, with the cops ignoring it or being complicit.

Quite frankly, 2021 said to 2020 "Hold my beer". I don't really expect any better for 2022.

Happy Birthday!

ravan — Thu, 02 Dec 2021 02:25:47 GMT

Happy Birthday to weofodthignen!!

Happy Birthday Dubhain

ravan — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 05:38:46 GMT

Hope you had a good day, dubhain

Happy Birthday!

ravan — Fri, 27 Aug 2021 08:09:23 GMT

Happy Birthday to kevin_standlee

Happy Birfday...

ravan — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 07:01:34 GMT

To my birthday twin herefox!

I hope your day is fun and special!

Magpie Monday!

ravan — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 02:06:42 GMT

Today is the Magpie Monday prompt call! Join the fun by prompting for a story that fits the theme of “unconventional parenthood.” My stories are generally gentle fiction, and are not conventional fan fiction. Full details are over at dialecticdreamer’s page.

Annoying Questions

ravan — Wed, 17 Feb 2021 02:35:57 GMT

A person on here posted a meme-question that I have been ruminating on for a while. So here's my rant on it.

Do you believe things happen for a reason?

Usually this is stated as a sanctimonious pronouncement "Everything happens for a Reason™", a variant on "God's will", but with a victim blaming component. The implication is, of course, that something the person is, was, or is supposed to learn is why X or Y bad thing happened.

Sure, everything happens for "a" reason, and sometimes that reason is that the world is a nasty place and people and systems are vicious. Also, entropy and chaos are "reasons". Often the reason is bad luck, not bad choices or bad "karma".

Yes, I believe that your actions help shape your path in life - it's called will, or wyrd. But there are always two other elements - the actions of other people, and the element of chance.

Take the current Texas freeze and power outages. The system is the execrable Texas power grid, deregulated and separate from the national grid so they can't be regulated by the feds, privatized and used as a cash cow, only making just enough power so prices can be kept high. (We have some of this quasi-deregulated crap here in CA, which is why I pay more for electricity that people in most other states.)

The cause of people freezing is a) chance weather event, b) "choice" to live in a GOP governed state that wants to be the Liberia of the US, c) fecklessness of the Texas GOP and their worship of disastrous deregulation, d) greed and malfeasance by the unregulated grid operator. The individual is responsible for only one of those things, and even then isn't to blame because they've been gaslit for years about how deregulation is "better".

Take the CA wildfire and the homes lost - a) global warming, b) mismanagement of federal forestland due to GOP cheese-paring, c) malfeasance on the part of PG&E WRT line maintenance, d) lightning strikes, and e) buying a home in an WLU area.

Yes, everything has a small component of personal choice - but usually it's blind choice, like crossing a street normally and getting run over by a speeding jerk - sure, you chose to cross there with the light, but he chose to speed and run the light. Not your fault, even though you "chose" to be there.

So if you want to say "everything happens for a reason", then you have to include chance, chaos, and malice on the part of others in the possible reasons. Anything less is victim blaming.

Sure, you can get screwed over by making bad choices, but more often than not other forces are out there that will take a slightly bad choice and spin it into a life destroying disaster. Plus, in some circumstances that we don't chose all that we are offered are bad choices and worse ones. Generational poverty is a prime example of this.

The responsible way of handling this is to own the choices you made, but to put the onus for all the rest where it's due: the society and environment we live in. You can't make gold if all you have is air. What you can do is make the best decisions that you can make given the circumstances you live in, knowing that chaos and chance will take a dump on you at random, and that's ok, it happens.

One-armed Paperhanger

ravan — Fri, 05 Feb 2021 02:35:32 GMT

Most people who know me IRL know that I only have the use of one arm - the left. It's been that way for over 25 years.

What people don't know is how I've adapted to this. Today I'll cover clothes.

Pants: I can wear jeans or sweats. I prefer jeams, and I get the stretchy ones in men's sizes because they last longer.

Yes, I can use the buttons and zipper just fine. I pull up my underwear, then I pull my shirt down over that. Then I pull my jeans up first by the left side, over my hips, then grab the right side and finish them up. I then grab the buttonhole on the one side, hook it onto my little finger, and drag it over the meet the button one the other side. With my thumb on the back of the button, I slip the button through the fabric.

Now, if you break your wrist/arm/elbow, you know how to pull up your pants one handed.

Shirts: Either pull over, or button up.

Pull over, I find the right armhole, stuff my limp arm through it, then put the left arm through and pull it over my head. I then proceed to pull it down the rest of the way.

Button up, I put my limp arm through the sleeve first, then reach up, grab the neck, and swing it around until I can find the other sleeve. I then line up the buttons, grab each buttonhole and slip it over the matching button. same trick works for jackets.

Socks: Hold them open with one hand, maneuver them around my toes then pull them on.

Shoes: With velcro, just loosen the velcro, slide my foot in, tighten the velcro.

With ties, a little harder. I have these gizmos (Cross Bow Sure Lock) that my laces go through that I can use to tighten them, then I use and overhand slip-know to fix them in place. I always leave enough "tail" so I don't have to fight to undo them.

For boots, I use the lace-in zippers.

Because of the lame leg, I can't wear slip-on shoes - my foot slides right out, or slides to the side and trips me. I also need the sole to have a wide base, not a typical narrowing like many women's shoes have. If the bottom of the sole is narrower than my foot, the bad foot will roll and I'll probably break my ankle.

Boob straps (bras): I never wear underwires. I tend to wear pull-over sports-type bras, because hooks are hard to deal with. While I can deal with hooks if I have to, I chose not to have the frustration. Finding big enough ones that don't make me look like I have gun turrets on my chest is hard. (Hey, bra makers? Not everyone who needs a big size wants to emphasize the damned things.)

Binders are somewhat difficult for me to use, because I have such big chest blobs, and getting them to squish down is hard. Still, I sometimes wear one, especially when my blobs make me feel gross.

Gloves: Damn near impossible to get on the non-functional hand. Mittens do better, but leave my good hand hampered. So, one of each is my preferred. I still need help getting the glove onto my good hand, because most aren't loose enough.

Undies: I wear granny panties with encased elastic. I hate french cut, thongs, or anything that gives me a wedgie as part of the design. Underpants keep me from sticking to myself. I pull them on with one hand, alternating sides.

Also, I hate stuff (pants, underwear) designed to rest at my hips not my waist - feels like they are falling down/off all the time. I don't like having hips, why TF would I want to accentuate them?

Hair ties, bandanas, etc: I can't put my own hair into a ponytail, even if it's long enough. If I wear a bandana, I tie it before putting it on, sometimes I have to retie it to adjust it. I will sometimes use a gaiter as a bandana. Headbands, gaiters and bandanas work the same way: put on around the neck, pull up around hair, freeing the ears.

Let Me Be Frank

ravan — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 01:30:53 GMT

To my US readers:

Today we witnessed an attempted coup by Trump supporters, instigated by Trump himself, supported inside Congress by Hawley, Cruz, and others. At the very least they are white supremacist terrorists.

This should not get swept under the rug like so much of Trump's other misdeeds and corruption.

This needs to be prosecuted as the sedition and insurrection it is. It is just as treasonous as the secessionists of the old confederate states. It needs to be squashed, and squashed hard.

I'm a nobody. I don't hold any office, I don't have lots of money.

But I am a US citizen, and I demand that Congress, the FBI, and the Secret Service do whatever they need to to bring these traitors to justice.

What can we do?

Start with demanding that Fox News be removed from your cable service for "material support of terrorism".
Do Not vote for any of the treasonous GOP for any office, not even dog catcher. As long as the GOP embraces Trumpism, even if not in name, reject them utterly.
Do not patronize MAGA businesses. Starve the beast.
Cut ties with your MAGA relatives. I know it's hard, but this shit has to have consequences, even for the footsoldiers.
Demand that your elected representatives denounce this, and if necessary, resign from the GOP..
For the duration of the pandemic, observe all public health directives and CDC guidelines. Starve Covid of victims.
If you can afford it, give to progressive/reformist causes, including the ACLU.
Stay aware of both local and national politics. Be aware of the shenanigans being pulled in your name.

It's not a lot, but every little bit counts.

We need to pull together, or they'll try to pick us off one by one.

Even if they defeat this now, unless it has heavy consequences we won't be rid of MAGAt "Y'all Queda" terror until they have no support and no place to hide.

Predictions?

ravan — Sat, 02 Jan 2021 02:22:16 GMT

Well, not really. Things are too much on the cusp, able to go either way. So I have possibilities, not predictions.
Positive:

Three or more viable vaccines get rolled out quickly once Biden is in office

Georgia runoffs pull McConnell's "Grim Reaper" powers

The new Congress does valid and sustained Pandemic relief

New Congress does M4A or other single payer scheme, stabilizing our healthcare infrastructure

EIC become more like UBI

States like CA increase their UI stipend

WFH becomes common, displacing open plan offices as the default (it's cheaper)

Indictments of the Trump Crime Family and associates in State courts

Negative:

Increased right wing terror attacks because White Supremacists are butt hurt that their champion Trump wasn't re-elected

Increased compromise of critical systems due to the failure of the Trumpists to prevent it (they possibly aided it)

Anti-vaxx conspiracies cost thousands more lives, with thousands of vaccine and mask refusenicks becoming a permanent carrier class.

Congress people, including pandemic denialists, will cut in line for vaccines while spreading anti-vaxx bullshit conspiracy theories.

More hospitals close as health care workers burn out of die due to the pandemic. Rationing care becomes common for an overstressed system, while Health Care and Health Insurance corporations rake in increasing profits.

The dying isn't over. Before we can get everyone vaccinated, because of the Trumpist's incompetence on vaccine roll-out, we will lose at least another 100,000 to covid. This didn't have to happen, but there's nothing that the incoming administration can do immediately to fix it.

The "Quarterly Earnings Call" mentality in corporation s will increase, prioritizing even more short term gain over long term sustainability and solid innovation and growth

If the Dems don't control Congress, small businesses will continue to be shafted, making the entrepreneurial environment extremely limited and risky. Corporatocracy could prosper, to the detriment of working people of all levels.

More super contagious and/or super lethal varieties of Covid will emerge, making the vaccine roll-out a race against the clock.

The conspiracy-fueled politics and fantasies on the right will get worse, more bizarre, and more cultish (yes it's possible). This will cause civil unrest as they act out their fantasies.

Mixed:

Numerous Congress people and their staffs will end up with Covid due to reckless campaigning and mask rejection. The trail of bodies is just beginning. Depending on who dies, this is a mixed outcome.

Gig work becomes more prevalent. While it allows quick bucks on the side, it is not sustainable as full time work.

Tech will increase their demand for H1(b) indentures, thereby freezing out minorities and older workers and suppressing wages. Sorta good for existing H1(b) folks, bad for women, minorities and older tech workers.

Space exploration will increase, but mostly as a rich person's toy, and the tech gains from it will be limited and closely held.

A lot of countries will try for energy independence, but the US will drag it's feet while the petrochemical corps whine and lobby against it.

Breakthroughs in energy tech may end up suppressed or overly expensive due to energy company anti-competitive practices.

The "New Normal" will be a mix of pre-covid and during-covid behaviors. Whether it's the best of both, the worst of both, or a mixed bag remains to be seen.

There may be more added as I think of them.

Magpie Monday

ravan — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 07:11:53 GMT

Today is Magpie Monday! Come visit dialecticdreamer’s page and join the fun of reader-inspired stories centered around the theme of unexpected moments! Full details are on dialecticdreamer’s page, and they are happy to answer questions via private message if anything is still unclear. Offer an idea, get a private reading copy to enjoy!

Yule Kag, Again

ravan — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 22:32:34 GMT

Yule Kag, aka Jule Kage.

I plan on making some this year.

Yule Kag (Danish version of Stollen)

2 cups milk
1 1/4 cup butter, softened *
2 cups sugar
1 tsp salt
2 small cakes yeast (2 packets)
1/2 cup warm water
3 cups flour
15 cardamom seeds ground OR 1 rounded tsp
3 eggs, well beaten *
1 lb jar candied fruits, floured *
(~7 cups flour more)

(makes 2 or 3 loaves, depending on size of pan)

- Scald milk. Add to it the softened butter.

- When butter has melted in milk, add sugar and salt. Cool.

- Dissolve yeast in warm water.

- Add yeast and 3 cups flour to butter & milk mixture. Beat well.

- Let dough rise 1 hour in warm place. (r1)

- Add cardamom, floured fruit, well beaten eggs and just enough flour to handle (dough should be stiff.)~7 cups!

- Knead thoroughly, then let dough rise until light - Takes A Long Time!! (r2)

- Stir down and knead gently.

- Fill 3 (or 2 if very large) bread tins 1/2 full.

- Let rise again until double in bulk. (r3).

- (preheat oven to 400 degrees F when nearly risen)

- Bake ten (10) minutes in hot (400 deg) oven, then...

- Reduce heat to moderate (325 deg) oven, and bake about 40 min, or until none of dough clings to a tester.

Note: This dough is slow rising. To make this bread usually takes about 12 hours from start to finish -- sometimes longer. Rising can be sped up by a few minutes in a warm (~100 deg) oven, but to do so makes lots of holes in the bread -- not so great.

* -> prep step
(r1) -> rising step

Recipe from Mabel Bylow (my paternal grandmother)

(ETA final flour amount)

Happy Birthday

ravan — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 03:54:03 GMT

Happy Birthday dubhain!!

Hope your day went well, and that you enjoy many more!

Birthdays

ravan — Mon, 12 Oct 2020 07:21:29 GMT

Happy Birthday to arlie and dangerpudding!!

I hope you both are well and safe.

Grumble

ravan — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 00:20:19 GMT

I've been laid off. The end of my notice period is at the end of this month. Yes I get severance, but it won't last long.

The West Coast is burning, but the Federal government under Trump doesn't give a shit. Multiple hurricanes are threatening the South, and my mother lives in Florida. Schools are opening for in person instruction in spite of advice from medical experts so we're sacrificing our youth for political appearances.

Every fucking day, more and more malfeasance by Trump, his appointees and surrogates surfaces, but with the complicit GOP, corrupt Barr in the DoJ and the traitor McConnell having a stranglehold on the Senate none of this shit will be brought to justice or corrected.

Worse, even if the Dems win in November, they will probably just all sing Kumbaya and sweep it under the rug as "history", and there will be no accounting for the corruption and crime of this administration. IMO, it's the mistake that they made after Watergate that helped set the stage for the current corruption of the once loyal GOP.

To say that I'm feeling cynical and depressed is putting it mildly. It seems like there will be no end to the right-wing shit-storm that is enveloping our nation, and that a Dem admin will have to spend all of it's time once again fixing the godawful mess that the GOP left, rather than moving our nation ahead into the 21st century. Every time the GOP gets into power they sabotage our institutions, shit on our ideals, and then pretend like it is patriotic or something. Each time is worse than the last.

It will be a cold day in hell before I knowingly vote for a Republican again, even on a local level. They have lost all claim to patriotism and loyalty to American ideals.

Voting Links

ravan — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 04:58:12 GMT

Here are some links via various people, including on Twitter:

How To Vote In The 2020 Election, by 538

You Don't Need a Home to Vote (pdf), by the National Coalition for the Homeless

California:
Elections Information - November 3, 2020, General Election (lots of links) CA folks can also verify their registration here.

Laid Off, Again

ravan — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 06:25:07 GMT

Stanford eliminated my position. I kind of worked myself out of a job. I'm not the only one - they had to cut the budget by 10%, and the easiest way to do that was to cut positions. I get a few months notice and severance.

Still, it's a drag. I tend to hate the whole interview charade these days. It used to be a lot easier, but there are so many fake people out there, with fake resumes, that there is more effort putting on screening fakes out than trying to find someone who can actually do the job.

Vagueness

ravan — Thu, 23 Jul 2020 06:34:21 GMT

If you ask me, a 20+ year computer professional, and others for a tool to "put a file on a website", I'm going to send you to an upload tool. Because to get the fucking thing from your computer onto the site, you have to transfer (upload) the fucking file. So don't fucking ask me for a tool to "put a file on a website" then bitch at me like I was a moron for pointing you at an upload tool.

There are lots of protocols for copying a file from one computer to another: ftp, sftp, scp, rsync, rsync over ssh, hell even dd. However, if you can't hack the command line, or write your own scripts, or even search the web yourself for what you think you want, then you use an upload tool. You can even find upload tools to make thumbnails of graphic files.

But don't throw a badly worded request for a solution out to people who "know the difference between ftp and rsync", which I can definitely assure you I do, then bitch that the suggestions are not what you want like I was AN IDIOT FOR NOT READING YOUR MOTHER FUCKING MIND!!

If it wasn't for your decent knowledge in other things, I'd block your bitchy little ass right now.

Masque Link Spam

ravan — Tue, 21 Apr 2020 05:51:35 GMT

I've been collecting links, including to scientific papers, about masks:

https://www.craftpassion.com/face-mask-sewing-pattern/

https://www.craftpassion.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/face-mask-pattern-1.pdf

https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/best-materials-make-diy-face-mask-virus/

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258525804_Testing_the_Efficacy_of_Homemade_Masks_Would_They_Protect_in_an_Influenza_Pandemic

https://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Cloth-Face-Mask/

Thailand masks https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/03/12/world/asia/12reuters-health-coronavirus-thailand-masks.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/opinion/coronavirus-face-masks.html

https://youtu.be/hVEVve-3QeM - Why we need #Masks4All, and how to make your own mask

https://annals.org/aim/fullarticle/2764367/effectiveness-surgical-cotton-masks-blocking-sars-cov-2-controlled-comparison - conclusion is that masks don't work, but data says cloth masks cut output by 1/3.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0843-2 - Respiratory virus shedding in exhaled breath and efficacy of face masks

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22188875 - The use of masks and respirators to prevent transmission of influenza: a systematic review of the scientific evidence.

https://newsroom.wakehealth.edu/News-Releases/2020/04/Testing-Shows-Type-of-Cloth-Used-in-Homemade-Masks-Makes-a-Difference

https://youtu.be/HhNo_IOPOtU - Masks for all, from Czechs

https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1442 - Covid-19: should the public wear face masks?

Coronavirus Meme/Quiz

ravan — Sun, 19 Apr 2020 08:14:28 GMT

Via siderea

1. Are you an Essential Worker?

No. My University employer started allowing me to work from home (WFH) a week before the CA lockdown.

2. How many drinks have you had since the quarantine has started?

One, for the Spring Equinox.

3. If you have kids... Are they driving you nuts?

Hahahaha... No. My cats are entertainment enough.

4. What new hobby have you taken up during this?

I've been making masks in my spare time...

5. How many grocery runs have you done?

Grocery or hardware store, about one a week, since we can't get any delivery times and stuff is always sold out.

6. What are you spending your stimulus check on?

Most went into savings, but some is going toward a new water heater to go into our garage for the washing machine.

7. Do you have any special occasions that you will miss during this quarantine?

Two of our SF&F conventions have been canceled already.

8. Are you keeping your housework done?

No, but then I wasn't before all this started.

9a. What movie have you watched during this quarantine?

None, really. Just a few youtube shorts

9b. What are you reading right now?

Twitter, Reddit, FarceBook, DreamWidth

9c. What video game are you playing?

My usual MMOs, plus Toon Blast and Toy Blast

10. What are you streaming with?

I am paying for a Netflix subscription, which I haven't done anything with in ages, plus we get Prime Video. But I don't watch TV.

11. Nine months from now is there any chance of you having a baby?

No. All of the AFAB eople in my house have either had hists or have gone through menopause

12. What's your go-to quarantine meal?

Whatever is in the freezer ready to nuke. (We cook in large lots, then portion it out and freeze it.)

13. Is this whole situation making you paranoid?

No, paranoia is about irrational fears:

A) It's not paranoia if it's about inanimate things.

B) It's not paranoia if you don't think the bad thing is personally aimed at you.

C) It's not paranoia if it's a conclusion you have come to through evaluating evidence and reasoning about it (even if your evidence sucks and your reasoning is lousy) so long as its responsive to further evidence and reasoning.

D) It's not paranoia if people really are out to get people like you, like the folks willing to sacrifice old people for the sake of "getting the economy going again".

14. Has your internet gone out on you during this time?

No. We got a new head end in February

15. What month do you predict this all ends?

September, 2021

16. First thing you're gonna do when you get off quarantine?

Evaluate if it is actually safe to go out without a mask, etc.

17. Where do you wish you were right now?

Not sure.

18. What free-from-quarantine activity are you missing the most?

Fabric shopping.

19. Have you run out of toilet paper and hand sanitizer?

No, but I had to scramble because Amazon has refused to ship my regular order for two months now. I am using more TP now that I'm WFH. I've made some of my own hand sanitizer, in case I need it, from 90% IPA, aloe & glycerine, plus I have some small bottles I bought in February.

20. Do you have enough food to last a month?

Easily, although one roomie will complain about lack of fresh leafy greens, eggs and mushrooms if she can't go shopping for them every week. We have powdered egg, IIRC, powdered milk and freeze dried spinach. But she can go through a two pound bag of fresh spinach in a week, and she won't freeze it.

Red Death

ravan — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 01:51:20 GMT

Yep. "Go out, go to church, go to the club, hug and shake hands - to own the libs!"

This is what we've come to: Courting death by a highly infectious disease that your lying news organization said was a hoax, but is busy killing people all over the world, just to upset "liberals".

Nevermind that these idiots will infect family members, including their elders, and the hospital workers that will try to save their lives.

A couple of pastors have already died of it, after telling their in-person congregations that it was Just a hoax, God would protect them.

Currently, the worst cases seem to be in the cities, which tend Democratic, just because of the concentration of people.

But the rural spread will actually be more deadly. Why, you ask? Because there are fewer hospital beds and medical people in rural areas, even as a percentage of the population. people won't actually *get* to the hospital. Many of those areas are served by volunteer fire departments, often comprised of older people who are semi-retired. They die in the first wave.

Seven states have not implemented shelter in place orders. All of their Governors are Republican. Several refuse to believe science, until their noses are literally rubbed in harsh reality.

These people, and their families, will die so business can continue "as usual".

The fact that the idiot in chief did not lock down the country in January or February, did not accept test from the WHO, and bungled the entire federal response so he and his cronies could make money before the stock market crashed have in essence guaranteed that this will be a deep depression with a lot of misery and death on top. The assclown won't even open up the ACA for the 10 million that have lost their jobs in the last two weeks. The entire US healthcare system will go bankrupt, and the only people that will be relatively unscathed will be the C suite of the health insurance companies, who always get paid first.

The tech sector will be mostly unscathed. The only thing holding our society together seems to be the internet. All of our entertainment and communication has moved online.

The tech sector mostly runs out of blue states.

In six months, our economy will be mostly destroyed, either by shelter in place job losses, or "return to business as usual" and the levels of death that would accompany it.

Our supply chains, right now, are fucked up, because of a rapid change in demand in several areas plus a shortage of workers to move stuff. The reason we are in such bad shape is "Just In Time" deliveries of raw materials and manufactured goods. Like the person who goes shopping twice a week with no well stocked larder, various manufacturers and distributors don't carry more than a couple days worth of inventory. The tax code actually disincents carrying inventory. People who keep more of anything on hand than they need in a week are called "hoarders", "preppers", and are thought to be crazy. Same with businesses.

Congress only half way helped. They passed obs and gobs of stimulus for businesses (who can get loans easily and should be keeping a rainy day fund, but don't) while giving a paltry one-time $1200 to individuals (while telling us we should have had a six month emergency fund and should get loans.)

These financial geniuses, with MBAs and CPAs, in the private sector can't even follow for their own businesses the "advice" that they heap on the working poor. Then they wonder why the phrase "Eat The Rich" is so popular. Nobody likes "Do as I say, not as I do" type hypocrisy that gets rewarded by the government.

I am so disgusted by this whole shit show that I want to scream in rage. The GOP has screwed us all over, by the numbers, since at least December (when they started getting the intelligence reports of COVID-19.) Their craven refusal to remove a craven con artist and outright crook from the White House with only a sham trial to cover it is unconscionable.

Then you have the purity voters who have spent the primary season driving decent female candidates out of the Democratic field, but then declare that they will only vote for Bernie, who can't even come close to the Democratic front runner. How is a guy who can't even build enough of a coalition to win the Dem primary supposed to win the general election?

So instead of uniting behind the probable nominee, they are spending their time tearing him down, spreading GOP-fueled lies, and generally acting like spoiled children. They are so fucking privileged that they would rather have #45 fuck us all over, especially women, minorities, the poor, LGBTQIA+, disabled folks, non-Christians, and old people, for another four years than hold their nose and vote for the Dem candidate, whoever it is. All the while accusing everyone else of "wanting people to die without healthcare" because we don't support only Bernie and his half-assed "plan". Fuck them and their fake purity and false conscience. Two more young, unqualified Republican foot soldiers on SCOTUS, and we're headed for a theocracy in all but name. There won't be any universal health care when that happens - you'll have to pray and hope someone answers.

Reuseable masks 2

ravan — Mon, 23 Mar 2020 03:19:20 GMT

We made reusable surgical masks this weekend, and cut out a lot more. Now I get to see who wants them.

Schrodinger's Virus

ravan — Wed, 18 Mar 2020 04:11:43 GMT

COVID-19 is the Schrodinger's virus: You don't know you have it until you come down with symptoms, but you are contagious right from the start, and can often spread it for 3 or more days before you have any suspicion that you are sick!!

Given that, I am going to go out on a limb and ask you to do one, simple, easy thing, along with all the handwashing and social distancing: Wear a cloth mask when you go out, remove it like it was contaminated when you get home, and wash it carefully.

Why cloth? Because it will leave the professional grade N95 masks for medical professionals and caregivers dealing with known infections, while still helping to reduce the spread of coronavirus.

Cloth masks are about half as effective as a properly worn N95 mask.

So if you wear a mask, that is 50% less chance that you get contaminated if you don't have it, and 50 % less that you contaminate someone else if you do have it. If *both* people are wearing masks? It drops your risk to 25%, or maybe more because of the reduction in spray radius (my crude term for how far people spray microdroplets when they talk.)

Think I'm nuts, or spreading baloney? Listen to some others, then:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/opinion/coronavirus-face-masks.html

https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/03/12/world/asia/12reuters-health-coronavirus-thailand-masks.html

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258525804_Testing_the_Efficacy_of_Homemade_Masks_Would_They_Protect_in_an_Influenza_Pandemic

Got a sewing machine, maybe some old pillowcases?

https://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Cloth-Face-Mask/

Make each person *three*. One to wash, one to wear, one for spare (and maybe one to share)

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Reuseable masks 2

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