Search results

  1. J

    Coronavirus

    As it should be. This virus has a very low survival time outside of living things. With a few precautions, no reason worldwide cargo flights can't continue for the duration of this.
  2. J

    Coronavirus

    I know that but you have to diffuse things like this with a little humor. I'm pretty sure a disease which really turns people into zombies is medically impossible but such a thing can serve as an imaginary worst-case scenario.
  3. J

    Coronavirus

    I found this. AGE DEATH RATE confirmed cases DEATH RATE all cases 80+ years old 21.9% 14.8% 70-79 years old 8.0% 60-69 years old 3.6% 50-59 years old 1.3% 40-49 years old 0.4% 30-39 years old 0.2% 20-29 years old 0.2% 10-19 years old 0.2% 0-9 years...
  4. J

    Coronavirus

    So the vaccine will turn people into zombies instead of the disease? Interesting. Now I'll be lying awake at night worried my mother will come in and start eating me. 😱
  5. J

    Coronavirus

    The only way I see things calming down is if we get a vaccine for this in record time.
  6. J

    Coronavirus

    It's because the first people to get it and "recover" are now turning into zombies after a latent period of a month or so.
  7. J

    Coronavirus

    Actually, if the 3.4% mortality rate holds, and everyone gets exposed, you're looking at 10 million dead in the US alone, as many as 250 million dead worldwide. My guess though is the real mortality rate is much, much lower than 3.4%. Most of the mild cases go completely unreported. When all is...
  8. J

    Something Random

    Don't bet on it. It took about 5 years to recover from the losses in 2008. This might be worse.
  9. J

    Something Random

    The EU already voted to scrap DST by 2021. Countries would have the option of being either permanently on standard time or DST. In my opinion we should adopt standard time since it's, well, standard. If people want to start their day earlier or later, let the school or work place adjust the...
  10. J

    Something Random

    Being from an Italian family I had small amounts of wine as early as late grade school. That probably was a good thing as it killed any mystique associated with drinking. Drinking age was 18 when I was young but I never got involved in the drinking scene in college. Because most of the kids...
  11. J

    Coronavirus

    Probably but I figured I would ask. I meant to buy one a long time ago just as an insurance policy but never got around to it. At least I have plenty of toilet paper, paper towels, and hand sanitizer. 😀
  12. J

    Coronavirus

    This is one of the few times I don't mind being home bound on account of caring for my mother.
  13. J

    Coronavirus

    I'm looking for a biohazard suit with a respirator. Can anyone here point me in the right direction?
  14. J

    Coronavirus

    My guess for these stats is either people have mild or no symptoms, and don't go to a doctor (hence the case isn't even counted in the official statistics), or they wait until they're at death's door before seeking treatment (accounting for the rather high mortality rate versus the number of...
  15. J

    Coronavirus

    https://nypost.com/2020/03/05/airlines-could-lose-113b-in-revenue-to-coronavirus-epidemic/
  16. J

    Something Random

    Similar prices for cheap wines in the US. Keep in mind I'm going strictly by total alcohol content here. By that standard, even cheap wines don't give much bang for the buck. Beer is probably one of the harder things to make, at least to make something drinkable. Most of the people who do this...
  17. J

    Something Random

    Nobody is going to drink 190 proof liquor. The idea is you dilute it with something else. The 1.75 liter bottle of Everclear might be equivalent to 2 bottles of cheap <$20 booze.
  18. J

    Something Random

    It's a lot cheaper if all you're after is getting crocked, and not taste. For example, the cheapest I've seen a 1.75 liter bottle of Everclear 190 go for is about $38. That contains about 1.67 liters of pure ethanol, so the cost is roughly $23 per liter. When it was available, you could get two...
  19. J

    Something Random

    I'm actually doing that. Just started it as a new hobby. I got a distiller on eBay, although you don't need one if you're making wine, beer, or anything else with a low alcohol content. I made two batches so far. Sugar, tomato paste, and yeast. Let ferment about two weeks, then distill out the...
  20. J

    Something Random

    You have to be careful and look at the ingredients. Drinking it straight out of the container probably isn't a good idea regardless. You should salt it first to precipitate out the solids, then run it through a coffee filter. You'll still have a lot junk in at that point, especially fragrance...
  21. J

    Something Random

    Bleach can't double as cheap booze. 😵
  22. J

    Coronavirus

    Basically, if you want to buy almost anything at all, buy it now. If the supply line gets disrupted severely, it may be months or more before it's available again at the same price.
  23. J

    Something Random

    It might be. People are afraid the virus will eventually disrupt supply chains, so they might be stocking up on essentials like toilet paper. Right now I have about a 3 month supply on hand since I stock up on whenever there's a sale but there were times I had a year's worth. Wiping your behind...
  24. J

    Coronavirus

    Our tax system is progressive (i.e. based on ability to pay). If someone doesn't have much money, they pay little or nothing. Asking people to pay for quarantine basically hits them with a huge bill most will be unable to be. I'm sure it's easily $10K or more per day, so these people the...
  25. J

    Coronavirus

    If the government's requiring you to do something, they should pay for it regardless of political philosophy.
  26. J

    Coronavirus

    If we're going to start asking people to pay for their quarantine that virtually guarantees the virus will spread. If we really want to have a hope of containing this, the government should not only pay for quarantine, but pay for any uncovered sick days, as well as force the employer to...
  27. J

    Coronavirus

    I never thought of that but you might be right.
  28. J

    Coronavirus

    Nope but I saw one of the Resident Evil movies. Pretty much the same thing. I have nightmares of this virus turning people into zombies hell bent on having me for a snack.
  29. J

    Coronavirus

    I'm thinking of potentially bigger problem. What if the virus mutates and turns people into zombies instead of killing them? There will be no stopping it at that point.
  30. J

    Coronavirus

    So am I. So far, it looks like the bulk of cases by far are confined to China.
  31. J

    Coronavirus

    Most likely postponed, not cancelled. If they end up having them in the fall, or even next spring or summer, it's not the end of the world.
  32. J

    Coronavirus

    Personally I think we should shut down the markets for the duration of this to prevent panic selling. And we probably should suspend international air travel as well.
  33. J

    Coronavirus

    Exactly. Communist governments aren't exactly known for caring much about the lives of their citizens. If they think it might help stop the virus by killing infected people, they won't hesitate to do so. Actually, four deaths outside China so far. One each in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan...
  34. J

    Coronavirus

    My theory is that the Chinese government has been killing people who contracted the virus in an effort to stop its spread, instead of treating them. The rationale would be even if the sick people are in a hospital for treatment they could still spread the virus to medical personnel. If they're...
  35. J

    Coronavirus

    Anyone have ideas on why all but 2 of the deaths have occurred in China? I have a theory but I'm curious what others think. If you exclude China, the mortality rate is well under 0.5%. Also, for a few days it looked like the rate of increase in the number of cases was starting to level off. It...
  36. J

    DIY Blockchain

    How many bytes of EEPROM does the card have, and how many are needed to store the balance? I ran into a similar problem on a bike computer I'm currently working on. It's conceivable if I stored the ride data in the same locations I might eventually run into the EEPROM's write limit. However, the...
  37. J

    Coronavirus

    It may be a possibility, but I think it's highly unlikely for two reasons. One, anything with a very high mortality rate will likely kill its host before the host has a chance to spread it. You would need something with a long asymptomatic incubation period where the person could still transmit...
  38. J

    Coronavirus

    So far the only deaths are in third world countries (China and the Philippines). It seems if you go to the hospital as soon as you realize this is something worse than seasonal flu, and the hospital has good support facilities, the mortality rate is much lower. Of course, the danger even in...
  39. J

    Coronavirus

    Yeah, I don't get that. Once we realized this was something bad and unknown, all flights to and from China should have been suspended by all countries. If not for air travel, this may never have made outside China.
  40. J

    Coronavirus

    Same here. Typically, I usually get a cold which is gone 24 hours later. What I had this fall was probably the worst illness I ever had. Last time I was almost that sick was about 15 years ago during the summer. I suspect it was the West Nile virus because I had a few mosquito bites but no way...
  41. J

    Coronavirus

    I most likely had the flu early last fall. For about 2 weeks I couldn't stand up for more than 30 seconds at a time. I passed out once in the bathroom and hit my head on the tub (I still have the scar). When I finally started getting better I couldn't walk more than 100 feet without stopping to...
  42. J

    Coronavirus

    I rinse off hand sanitizer because I don't like the sticky residue some of them leave, and I'm allergic to fragrances. Looks like that's a good idea regardless. No, I'll look into it. Good thing is I only need to go out to the store, so that limits my exposure. I also have long had a habit of...
  43. J

    Coronavirus

    It looks like this is causing a run on hand sanitizer. I had bought three gallons total from Amazon last month and this month just because it was a good price. All the versions from the brand I bought are currently unavailable...
  44. J

    Coronavirus

    I should seriously consider buying a biohazard suit. If not this, sooner or later something bad is going to hit.
  45. J

    Coronavirus

    I started following it a few days ago. Until we have a handle on incubation period, mortality rates, and how fast it spreads we really have no idea what we're dealing with. I don't think China is acting out of proportion. Better to err on the side of caution and take a minor hit to the economy...
  46. J

    Large HDD's for a NAS/Server for RAID

    Just quickly checking prices and price per GB your reasoning is fine. Only question is we're talking about close to $3K here. A lot of money in my book, even if you're making a good salary. Back in the few years where I managed to make 6 digits, I still kept my hobby spending probably under $250...
  47. J

    Something Random

    I think about 30 years ago is when they started cheaping out on appliances. Maybe 20 years ago it started to get much worse, to the point people regularly replaced A/Cs or refrigerators every 7 to 10 years. 40s to 50s the house holds a reasonably comfortable temperature on its own. This being...
  48. J

    Something Random

    Well, if you're in a hot climate of course there's no real backup if the A/C fails. Fans are OK when the room is in the low 80s at most. After that, they pretty much suck. Swamp coolers can work in low humidity, but that's not NYC. Summers here are always near 100% humidity.
  49. J

    Something Random

    You could have used electric space heaters if it came to that. Everyone should have a few as a backup in case their furnace goes.
  50. J

    Something Random

    No, anything electronic is hands down way better than the old stuff. Devices that are mostly mechanical, like boilers or washing machines, are a different matter. Sure, some of the modern features are nice. Whether it's worthwhile or not depends. For example, a little over two years ago I...
Top