Come on, guys. Let's lighten the mood a bit.

I suggest a group reading of Edger Allen Poe's The Masque of the Red Death.

Here's the text. Who wants to start?

I'll start. "And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all." Wait, maybe that's not a good place to start. How about "The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure. "

 

Red Death...

Get it?

 

Many companies already understand this practice. It was common in response to strikes that Exempt Supervisory personnel would remain encamped on-site to continue production. Kinda hard to implement at the "grab n go" or grocery store. Unfortunately Amazon doesn't do groceries where I live and "wally world" and others want you to go inside to do online order pickups. We will have to adapt to what is there for us.

OMG! I used to run a 24x7x365 e-commerce site with a 5 9s guaranteed uptime. A trailer would have been luxurious. I spent many a NE northeaster sleeping in my desk chair with my feet on the desk.

 

Get it?

 

I still remember "Better Dead than Red"!

 

 

It's not that bad. I lived under it in the '60s for awhile. Just use damp towels and masking tape to seal off windows and doors to keep the tear gas from coming in. Wear dark clothing and run from bush to bush at night to evade the patrols. Not that many people get dragged out and beaten. You get used to it.

Edit: One more thing. Stay off roof tops. That really makes them nervous.

Ever since Kent State, they are reluctant to shot if you are running away too.

 

I'm less scared about it than what will happen if the supply chain breaks down during this lockdown. I was an ships company MP patrolling the town outside the base during Martial Law in the Philippines during the Marco's rule. There's was nothing to fear from us if you followed the rules but the local cops we patrolled with were unprofessional bastards drunk on power.

Remember it well. Yes, the local cops were bastards but I was always where I was going to be before curfew.

Ron

 

I'll start. "And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all." Wait, maybe that's not a good place to start. How about "The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure. "

Or, the newer woke version: "The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure to be applied to the most pleasurable purpose possible provided the application was pursuant to prevailing practices and protected behavior".

 

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Don't ask me either. I've already done one drug deal type TP sale to a coworker at the parking lot of a LOWES store. It was the good stuff.

Pro tip from a former TP dealer. Bring the exact amount for the deal, you won't get change back from that $20.

 

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Outstanding! I just texted this to my wife who is an ICU nurse. They needed a laugh. Their whole unit is now Covid-19 only. Other ICU cases are sent elsewhere.

 

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/20/health/covid-19-recovery-rates-intl/index.html

The researchers also looked at how severe the illness was for those who were diagnosed. The good news: more than 80% experienced only mild symptoms. Almost 14% were classed as severe cases, while the condition of almost 5% was determined to be critical.
...
The Italian government also found that most people who died of the virus had two or three existing health conditions before being infected with the coronavirus. Among those, high blood pressure was the most common, followed by heart problems and diabetes.

 

https://www.local10.com/news/local/...ut-down-to-visitors-beginning-sunday-evening/

MONROE COUNTY, Fla. – The Florida Keys will be closed to visitors beginning at 6 p.m. Sunday, the Florida Keys News Bureau confirmed Friday.

Government officials concerned about the potential spread of COVID-19 have ordered lodging businesses in Monroe County to temporarily close to new guests.

Long-term renters in vacation homes and R/V parks with contracts of 28 days or more and are presently in the Keys are allowed to stay until the conclusion of their contracts.

 

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Watching that now on online. What a great horror movie.

 

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/20/health/covid-19-recovery-rates-intl/index.html
... the condition of almost 5% was determined to be critical....

Applying the 5% number to the number of ventilators in our state (including "on order"), which the Governor provided in a press conference today, and the current number of cases, it doesn't look good. Maxing out the ventilators in 4 to 5 weeks unless the "curve is flattened". One other tidbit from the Governor's press conference. Ventilators from surgery suites are being converted for bedside use. So, forget getting general anesthesia. For those not quite understanding the reason for lock down, believe it. My state lock down in 3, 2, 1.....

 

https://www.local10.com/news/local/...ut-down-to-visitors-beginning-sunday-evening/

I had a trip planned for Islamorada tomorrow. My host told me today to stay in Broward. He doesn't want me there.

 

Watching that now on online. What a great horror movie.

Directed by Roger Corman! Looks like he was in an Edgar Allan Poe groove for awhile. "The Pit and the Pendulum", "The Raven", "Fall of the House of Usher". Now I learn it is called the "Corman-Poe Cycle". Didn't know that.

 

I had a trip planned for Islamorada tomorrow. My host told me today to stay in Broward. He doesn't want me there.

Hawaii about to shutdown visitors without a 14 day quarantine as part of their "vacation".

 

On the bright side, a friend sent this:

A 15-member team developed, validated, and launched a PCR test to detect COVID-19 in an astonishingly short amount of time—three weeks. On March 12, the test was made available to the Mayo Clinic Practice. The next day, Roche received FDA clearance and offered Mayo Clinic the option to use the high-throughput cobas 6800 to increase our capacity. This commercial test was also brought up in an astonishingly short period of time—111 hours. As of March 18, the Roche test is validated and orderable. The Division of Clinical Microbiology will continue to ramp up testing throughout the state and the rest of the nation, while developing contingency plans for expected reagent and supply shortages.

Current capacity is 4k per day and will increase dramatically.

 

https://www.groundup.org.za/article/covid-19-why-test-test-test-easier-said-done/

Good information. I plan to eat more take out to try and support the restaurants that chose to keep running and do delivery. Support local businesses since I am lucky enough to be in one of those essential services