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CHIEF

Certifiably Surly
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Posts posted by CHIEF

  1. I am seeing a lot of what Slorch is seeing. Mom and I went to Lowe's to get some items, so she can put her house on the market, last Friday morning. It was the most crowded I have ever seen. Whole families going shopping to avoid boredom. About 30% were masked up. It was bad enough that we didn't even go in. Granbury has really bad traffic for its size (like Austin, it has a lake right through the middle) and the traffic is just as bad as always. 

    Hood county is sitting at 17 cases and 3 deaths total. Over half of the cases were two different families that infected their own family members after traveling. There is a huge sense of false security in a lot of rural areas, that we are not seeing in the harder hit urban areas.

    If you want to have hardly anyone in the store and adequate social distancing you better go shopping at 9:30 on Sunday morning. Everyone is home watching their streamed church service.

    CHIEF

  2. More info from Paul Romer:

    https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2020/03/31/824103765/the-case-for-more-federal-action-to-combat-covid-19

    and the real reason that we have inadequate testing:

    Economists usually like it when the market provides solutions. But building factories, buying machines, training workers, and doing everything else it takes to produce massive quantities of medical equipment on an aggressively short timeline will cost a lot. And, Romer says, without government intervention, companies won't do this on their own.

    That's because corporate America naturally worries that demand for this equipment will evaporate once the crisis recedes and that even during the crisis, they might not be able to charge much for it. With historically high demand and limited supply, the market's natural response is sky-high prices. Everybody hates them, but high prices provide an incentive for manufacturers to produce. Yet, Romer says, "the reality is our political system, our emotions, will not let companies charge like ten times as much for the masks right now as we're trying to get a surge in production. So that's why the market can't do its job. We won't let prices do what they have to do."

     

    It's the same reason the guy in North Richland Hills isn't busting his ass to make surgical masks, as soon as the crisis is over, the US medical industry goes back to buying Chinese made products.

    CHIEF

  3. On 4/11/2020 at 1:41 PM, SimonBolivar said:

    Dang your pic? I've still never seen one in the wild 

    I've been lucky enough to see two. One was when I was on a walk with Mrs. CHIEF down to the waterfall on Bull Creek right off of 360. The other one was up at Stillhouse Hollow one time. I feel pretty lucky, apparently coral snake sightings are really rare in central Texas.

     

    CHIEF

  4. Sleep cycles are definitely off. "Early" for me is before 11 am. CHIEF Jr. is in the middle of a 27 hour "nap". Went to bed about 7 this morning after shooting bows at our archery range for about 12 hours, he says he is way behind on sleep. People are sleeping 10-12 hours a day, and still feel tired. I don't understand that.

    CHIEF

    • Like 1
  5. 5 hours ago, Anastasis said:

    Yes, yes, yes, but please don't let that stop me from creating a totally delusional timeline of events in an alternate reality where contemporary knowledge and information is replaced with with perfect future hindsight. 

    I don't know why they call it the NOVEL coronavirus. 

    novel2 [ nov-uh l ] - 

    adjective

    of a new kind; different from anything seen or known before: a novel idea.

    This is our first big one, of many more to come. The World was caught with its pants down. Every country is trying to do what is best for its citizens. Less than 90 days ago, no one had any idea how contagious it was, how deadly, or how many ways the virus could attack the body. Not ONE country was willing to tank their economy based on unforeseen circumstances. But, hindsight is 20/20. Governments will be ready the next time a pandemic happens. I believe George Bush said it best, "fool us once, shame on you. Fool us twice....we won't get fooled again."

    For everyone clamoring about testing, that's fine and good, how do you propose we get millions of test tubes, swabs, and petri dishes in a couple of weeks? I bet China has been 95% of our source for 25 years, and they need all of the items for their own population. Our pipelines to these items have completely dried up, and we can't magically produce 10 million test kits a week, without time to gear up. . We have to take back our PPE, medical, and pharmaceutical industries despite higher production costs. It will bolster our National Security as well as stimulate the economy.

    CHIEF

     

    • Like 1
  6. Just now, wd40 said:

    Pearl's.  I miss that place.  mostly because it was one of the few live music joints at that end of town (that I remember).

    video's from a Steamboat show, but the I think he last time I went to Pearl's was to see this guy.  or Lou Ann.

     

    Yep, saw Atlanta Rhythm Section play there on a hungover Saturday afternoon. Even got to tell them I had one of their 8-Tracks.

    CHIEF

    • Like 1
  7. It died for me when Pearl's Oyster Bar burned at Burnet/183 in about '96. $1 beer, 10 cent shrimp, and 25 cent oysters, plus all the government cheese you could eat. As a poor bastard, I could still afford to eat there 3-4 days a week. Also, when we no longer drove across the top of Mansfield Dam on 620 going to Mrs. CHIEF's grandparents in Johnson City.

    CHIEF

    • Like 2
  8. 22 minutes ago, WBT said:

    Why not?  Does he not like money?

    There are so many people out of work now that would be happy with a temporary gig.  And when things go back to normal they can go back to their old jobs.

    Apparently to make surgical masks run the machinery, and keep the workplace as clean as possible actually takes several weeks of training to become efficient. It's amazing to think that just any old peasant that can fog a mirror can come right in and pick it up in the first 10 minutes. It isn't exactly ditch digging. Believe it or not some business owners really give a shit, and shitcanning employees really weighs on them mentally. Especially Mom and Pop type operations where you deal with each employee on a regular basis. You get to know them, hear about their families, sometimes you even develop a friendship. I've had to do it, and it was agonizing. All parties involved were shedding tears over the situation.

    CHIEF

    • Like 4
  9. 1 minute ago, SquishMitten said:

    Hit a paywall. Does the article mention why he hasn't just ramped up production and started contacting all the hospitals currently begging for supplies?

    Yes, as soon as the pandemic is over, US hospitals will go back to using Chinese producers for the bottom line. After ramping up for H1N1, he had to lay off 150 workers and provide for unemployment. They treated him as though he was just expendable. 

    CHIEF

    • Like 4
  10. 7 minutes ago, GRHorn said:

    On a side note. Has anyone here received a text like this?

    Hi GRHorn. My name is Sarah and I'm a student at UT Austin. I've moved back home since classes moved online and am doing remote learning.  Its been a real adjustment but I'm still glad to be connected to my classmates and faculty. Can I share how Longhorns are helping UT students impacted by the COVID-19 crisis? 
     

    what’s the scam angle here?

    You are about to be hit up for a sizable donation for her pet project that gets her noticed and admired. 

    CHIEF

  11. I make one based off of the Jamaican episode of Bizarre Foods. Scotch Bonnets and Serranos with sliced onions. I make it in a pint rum bottle and give it to friends. You drink 3/4's of the rum, then add sugar, allspice, cloves, and garlic. I boil white vinegar and fill it to the top after adding the other ingredients to the bottle. You shake it up to dissolve the sugar, then, let it sit for a few weeks. Sweet, hot as fuck, and has a numbing effect. Great flavor, and pretty in the bottle for about a month. Makes for killer beans and cornbread.

    CHIEF

    • Like 2
  12. Just wanted to pick your brains on what you think will happen to the US dollar.

    Can the US economy pay unemployment benefits on 30 million individuals? What do you think happens to unemployment benefits? 

    If the US keeps stimulating the economy with trillions, do we experience hyper inflation (Weimar Republic), stagnation, deflation?

    Does the US dollar maintain its position as the the World's reserve currency?

    If the US government temporarily suspended all loan and utility payments, and all anyone would owe until economic situation were better is life sustaining (food, toiletries, fuel for work) would we be in a better economic situation than just printing more money?

    What will happen to unsecured debt? Would it be better to just erase what is on the books and start over? 

    This is the worst thing to happen to our economy since the Great Depression. It's just in the beginning stages, and may end up worse. Sorry for all the questions, not expecting anyone to spend the time to answer them all. But...all we have is time.

     

    CHIEF

  13. 47 minutes ago, bolverk said:

    This is the earliest I could find for medical masks.

    $9.88
    + $5.99 shipping
    Arrives: April 24 - May 15

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084M7M2D1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    I also ordered this for the meantime:

    $19.99
     & FREE Returns 
    FREE delivery: April 15 - 16 Details

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0865XBYSD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    Until then, DYI.

    My problem with all of the masks you can buy online, is that are made in China. I am assuming most of these masks have been made in the last few months, or, are being manufactured as we speak. I wouldn't trust the Chinese to not have CO-VID positive workers on the assembly line. It sure would suck to be virus free and end up getting it from a contaminated mask designed to protect you.

    CHIEF

  14. 35 minutes ago, Judge Roybeanbag said:

    This isn’t easy, because of the sickness and death associated with it, but my wife and I were discussing our lifetimes the other day and I realized that it has really been one thing after another.  I was born in 1966, the height of the Vietnam war, newly integrated schools, gas lines and stagflation were my childhood.  My immediate adulthood was marked by the 1987 crash, S&L and bank failures, which actually benefited me at the time.  Got married mid-90s and had kids and started saving for retirement just in time for 9/11 and that financial crash.  Back our or feet, then 2008 happened.  In the interim we’ve effectively been at war since 1991.  Between 2012 and 2019 I lost five immediate family members.

    There has never been a “normal” in my lifetime.  Maybe that has helped me cope with this, I dunno.  I still think I have it pretty good comparatively speaking.

     

    Are you, me in a Parallel Universe?

    CHIEF

  15. 33 minutes ago, Rougarou said:

    Put on a suit for an important Zoom meeting today. First time to wear anything remotely semi-formal or formal, been in basketball shorts and concert tee's for a month now.

    I dare youse guys to put on a suit and jump on a zoom meeting after a month of quarantine and not have a long and deep rethinking about how you've been snacking and eating during this time! I need to go for a run or something, but after my cold spaghetti and oreo lunch.

    I know what the CHIEF Clan is having for dinner.

    CHIEF

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