And here we go.
Rand Paul is first senator to test positive for coronavirus
Mar 222020
Mar 222020
Might we see the return of the Plague Doctor?
This outfit was intended to protect the wearer from the Black Death. But since nobody at the time understood just what caused the plague, the suit was worthless. But… with a little tinkering and ingenuity, it seems like it could be made functional. For starters, the leather outfit should be repalced with a modern impermeable material… kevlar coated with teflon or some elastomeric polymer, for instance. The “beak” on the original mask was filled with fragances and herbs, because they thought that the plague was spread by bad odors. But if the mask was made better, with a better seal around the face or head and with a replaceable N95-level filter cartridge int he beak, turning it into a truly functional virus-proof respirator. And the hat?
Leave the hat. Hat’s stylin’.
Another possibility, one I suggested some years ago:
There’s quite enough volume in there for a dandy respirator. It would need an elastic neck piece to seal your head in, and doubtless the design could be improved with larger eyes… but it’s hard to beat the aesthetics.
Or how about Professor Membrane:
A Howie lab coat with a large collar that serves as a partial face guard, goggles to protect the eyes, boots and gloves. Install a respirator underneath that collar and you’ll be set.
Or just this sort of thing:
A kinda-stock motorcycle helmet, but modified with built-in N95 respirators and a neck-seal. Throw in communications equipment and a heads-up display derived from the latest iteration of Google Glass, and it seems like it’d be the must-have fashion accessory of the season.
Mar 222020
A 1965 Ryan concept for a VTOL aircraft capable of high speed. Both the main wing and the vertical stabilizers were in fact stoppable rotors with three stubby blades. Some designs utilizing this system were capable of supersonic flight.
Mar 222020
The Governor of Illinois closed down the state Saturday, banning a whole bunch of things and shut down a bunch of businesses. But the order, which can be read HERE, explicitly exempts a number of vital functions and businesses. Grocery stores, pharmacies, banks… stuff that you’d expect. But the Democrat governor of a whoppingly anti-Second Amendment state *also* exempted something rather remarkable:
Supplies for Essential Businesses and Operations. Businesses that sell, manufacture, or supply other Essential Businesses and Operationswith the support or materialsnecessary to operate, including computers, audio and video electronics, household appliances; IT and telecommunication equipment; hardware, paint, flat glass; electrical, plumbing and heating material; sanitary equipment; personal hygiene products;food, food additives, ingredients and components; medical and orthopedic equipment; optics and photography equipment; diagnostics, food and beverages, chemicals, soaps and detergent;and firearm and ammunition suppliers and retailers for purposes of safety and security;
Funny. When the fit hits the shan, even the lefties realize that they might need to defend themselves.
Exactly how this order is to be enforced is left as an exercise for the student, though it says this:
Enforcement. This Executive Ordermay be enforced by State and local law enforcement pursuant to, inter alia, Section7, Section18,and Section 19 of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act, 20 ILCS 3305.
Something to note here: Stockboys are officially recognized as “essential,” since grocery stores are essential. Oddly, I see nothing in there recognizing the same for actors or musicians. Hell, even the pot dealers are “essential.”
Mar 212020
For the Kung Flu:
Gives data by country, but state, by Aussie state, Canadian province, Chinese province.
Column 2 is number of confirmed cases. Followed by deaths, recoveries and mortality rate. Behold the two states that, as of 21 March, have the most confirmed cases, New York and Washington:
| New York | 11,710 | 60 | 0 | 0.5% | 0.0% | 10,978 | 93.7% | 57 | 95.0% | 0 | n/a |
| Washington | 1,793 | 94 | 1 | 5.2% | 0.1% | 1,150 | 64.1% | 54 | 57.4% | 0 | 0.0% |
Something that will take some explaining: NY has a mortality rate of half a percent. Washington’s is more than ten times higher. Bwuh?
China’s mortality rate is *reportedly* 4%, Italy’s is 9%, the US sits at 1.2%. Germany 0.4%, UK, 4.6%, Iran 7.5%.
UPDATE: a chart from Wiki. Sure does look exponential to me… and, sadly, this is to be expected at this stage. Even if the entire US went into full lockdown, it would take a while for those already infected to show symptoms.
Mar 202020
Too bad it wasn’t shooting down the enemy, but instead shooting up its comrades:
Mechanic ‘Accidentally’ Fires Vulcan Cannon & Obliterates F-16 Sitting on the Runway
A BELGIAN Air Component F-16 fighter has been destroyed and another plane has been left damaged. It is reported that the accident was caused by the negligent discharge of the six-barrel 20 mm Vulcan M61A-1 cannon on another F-16. pic.twitter.com/mdbTxF4zC3
— Paki 007 (@PakiPsyop007) April 25, 2019
Whoopsie.
Mar 202020
You can always rely on the British to lay it out with the most flowery of all possible language…
An elderly Londoner lady, speaks out about corona:
Warning: Her lingua franca is arguably, a tad exotic. pic.twitter.com/HdDQgVPqPX— Dr James Kent (@DrJamesKent3) March 16, 2020
Mar 202020
More time to procrastinate!
At @realDonaldTrump’s direction, we are moving Tax Day from April 15 to July 15. All taxpayers and businesses will have this additional time to file and make payments without interest or penalties.
— Steven Mnuchin (@stevenmnuchin1) March 20, 2020
This only seems to apply for federal taxes, not state. So… it really doesn’t help a whole lot …
Mar 202020
What do we call the pandemic that originated in Wuhan, China? “Coronavirus” seems to be the accepted standard, even though that’s a whole family of viruses, not just the specific one that has locked down the planet. COVID-19 is specific but kinda blah. I’ve been calling it the Wu Flu for brevity and accuracy. The White House calls it the China Virus. But there’s an even better name:
Did he yell “this is maga country” right after?
Did you remember to pick up your Subway sandwich?— Joey Saladino (@JoeySalads) March 19, 2020
Kung Flu. I like it.
Still: since when is naming a disease after the place it came from/was detected/was identified at “racist?”
West Nile
Ebola Zaire
Ebola Reston
Marburg (Germany)
Guinea Worm
MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome)
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
Spanish Flu (even though it seems to have originated in Kansas)
Lyme Disease (Old Lyme, Connecticut)
Zika (Zika Forest, Uganda)
Japanese encephalitis
Ross River (Queensland, Oz) Fever
Norovirus (Norwalk, Ohio)
Lassa (Nigeria) Fever
German Measles
Omsk Hemorrhagic Fever (Russia)
Hantavirus (Hantan, South Korea)
La Crosse (Wisconsin) Encephalitis
Hong Kong Flu
Yes, it’s a nightmare. As previously mentioned, I’ve got a reasonable expectation that I myself will be dead inside of a month or two, due to craptacular lungs which are probably primed to simply dissolve if I get it. And along with myself, it’s not impossible that millions of other Americans could die of this thing in a similar timeframe, especially if people keep acting stupidly. That said: if you’re looking at an existential crisis, what better way to confront it than with humor?
More memes after the break.
Mar 202020
The design below dates from late 1964 or so. it could be used to fly 100 passengers or 20 tons of cargo. Length was to be 100 feet with a 120-foot rotor diameter and a 90,000 pound weight. it certainly looks a *lot* like the S-64 Skycrane.
