Coronavirus

[Peter]

Schools in many countries and America may be next to closed, Malls, stores, beauty parlors closed, all travel in large groups stopped. I did not know “Pappa John’s” was in China but all forty restaurants there closed. People are fearful about going to immediate care health facilities because treatment for the flu, might lead to a coronavirus infection. Vice President Pence is considering the use of the word “pandemic.” Schools for American kids in South Korea are closed. Many universities in the U.S., Australia and Europe already have canceled study abroad programs. 

“The Price is Right” just came on TV. A large group of people have congregated and the people first selected are high fiving the other audience members. I wonder if Drew Carey will allow someone to hug him if they win?

edit. I get Cpap supplies which come from China. A family member uses an oxygen generator. So much will be affected . . . very soon. My Cpap supplies come in a plastic bag but they are handled by Chinese.  

[Brant Gaede]

More like a cold than flu, which killed 31,000 in the US last year, it still has hardly gotten out of China.

--Brant

[Brant Gaede]

1 hour ago, Peter said:

Schools in many countries and America may be next to closed, Malls, stores, beauty parlors closed, all travel in large groups stopped. I did not know “Pappa John’s” was in China but all forty restaurants there closed. People are fearful about going to immediate care health facilities because treatment for the flu, might lead to a coronavirus infection. Vice President Pence is considering the use of the word “pandemic.” Schools for American kids in South Korea are closed. Many universities in the U.S., Australia and Europe already have canceled study abroad programs. 

“The Price is Right” just came on TV. A large group of people have congregated and the people first selected are high fiving the other audience members. I wonder if Drew Carey will allow someone to hug him if they win?

edit. I get Cpap supplies which come from China. A family member uses an oxygen generator. So much will be affected . . . very soon. My Cpap supplies come in a plastic bag but they are handled by Chinese.  

Wipe the bag down with isopropyl alcohol then wash your hands.

--Brant

[ThatGuy]

"Petrograd smelt of carbolic acid."

[Peter]

4 minutes ago, ThatGuy said:

"Petrograd smelt of carbolic acid."

I've never heard of that and I don't have it on hand. I have a bottle of hibocleanse sp? but I don't think it kills viruses. I may try the alcohol cleaner.

from across the globe. Coronavirus Live Updates: New Cases Light Up the Map as Nations Brace for Outbreaks The virus sweeps the globe, with cases in at least 47 countries.

“We have before us a crisis, an epidemic that is coming,” President Emmanuel Macron of France said on Thursday. “We are going to have to confront it as best we can.”

Japan’s government closed all schools through March in an effort to combat the outbreak. Iran canceled Friday Prayers in major cities, a cornerstone ritual of the Islamic Republic. Saudi Arabia barred pilgrims from visiting Mecca and Medina.

700 People In NY Being Monitored For Possible Coronavirus Sean Adams 3 hrs ago. NYC Mayor. It's been clear for weeks that it's not a question of IF the coronavirus comes to our country but WHEN. The precautions we put in place back in January have had a positive impact. As of this hour we can report NO confirmed cases of the coronavirus in New York City.

Carefully buy food and essentials. Clean up when you get home. Food markets should not allow anyone who shows symptoms to stock shelves or check out customers. Don't congregate and try not to share breathing spaces with anyone but family.

First case of someone who got the coronavirus, was cured, and then relapsed. 

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

5 minutes ago, Peter said:

I've never heard of that and I don't have it on hand.

Peter,

I'm pretty sure that's a quote from We the Living.

Michael

[Peter]

2 minutes ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

Peter,

I'm pretty sure that's a quote from We the Living.

Michael

Berry funny, you wascally wabbit.

Stocks slip into correction. Again. 26,673 at 12:45. VP Pence is addressing CPAC at National Harbor, Maryland. 15 cases in U.S. but only one in last two weeks.

Fox just showed a trash collector in San Francisco trying to carefully empty a public trash can. He had a mask, gloves, protective clothing, and a yellow hat on, which made no sense. He was poking and mashing down the trash before emptying it.  

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

For general information, here is a post from a different thread that should belong in this one:

23 hours ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

If anyone wants a constant update on coronavirus stats, here is a data page on a site called Worldometer:

COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK

As of this posting, given below is what the numbers look like. But note: when you click on the link above, those numbers will be updated as time goes on.

Here is what you see right now:

There is plenty of other data on that site, too. For example, here is the start of a table further down the page:

The overwhelming majority of cases and deaths are in China right now.

Incidentally, I don't know how accurate Worldometer is, but here is one discussion of it that gave it a rave review a few years ago. So until I come across information that is different, I'm running with the idea that it is reputable. There are other reputable-looking sites out there on the Internet, also.

This looks a lot better to me credibility-wise than going the mainstream news route.

Note that the death rate of those infected is higher than 2%.

Michael

[Peter]

Perhaps OL can be a haven for We The 'Still' Living. Get yer medical advice here?

[Peter]

Thanks. That site may be the best I have seen. How many people exist on earth? Billions and billions, and I am sure there are many people with a natural immunity or resistance. Think about all the scifi books about pandemics. Come back Michael Crichton! Do a little dance, write a little book, get up tonight. A little levity should brighten this sight. bad joke. If we do have a "kill off" what sort will be left to propagate, you modern day Darwinians?    

[ThatGuy]

38 minutes ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

Peter,

I'm pretty sure that's a quote from We the Living.

Michael

The opening line, at that.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

17 minutes ago, Peter said:

That site may be the best I have seen.

Peter,

Do not allow the mainstream news to get into your head about this.

They don't give a damn about you and, frankly, they don't give a damn about properly informing the public about the coronavirus.

They just want to get eyeballs so they can sell ads and they want to spin anything they can to try to take down President Trump.

There are places on the Internet, like that site, where you can get correct information.

Michael

[Ellen Stuttle]

1 hour ago, ThatGuy said:

Bingo. The opening line, even. 

START QUOTE

Petrograd smelt of carbolic acid.

A pinkish gray banner that had been red, hung in the webbing of steel beams.  Tall girders rose to a roof of glass panes gray as the steel with the dust and wind of many years; some of the girders were broken, pierced by forgotten shots, sharp edges gaping upon a sky as gray as the glass.  Under the banner hung a fringe of cobwebs; under the cobwebs -- a huge railway clock with black figures on a yellow face and no hands.  Under the clock, a crowd of pale faces and greasy overcoats waited for the train.

Kira Argounova entered Petrograd on the threshold of a boxcar.  She stood straight, motionless, with the graceful indifference of a traveler on a luxurious ocean liner, with an old blue suit of faded cloth, with slender sunburned legs and no stockings.  She had an old piece of plaid silk around her neck, and short tousled hair, and a stockingcap with a bright yellow tassle.  She had a calm mouth and slightly widened eyes with the defiant, enraptured, solemnly and fearfully expectant look of a warrior who is entering a strange city and is not quite sure whether he is entering it as a conqueror or a captive.

Behind her was a car overloaded with a freight of humans and bundles. [...]

END QUOTE

It's a great first line and a great beginning.  Rand really knew how to start a novel.

Ellen

[Peter]

Michael Wrote: “Do not allow the mainstream news to get into your head about this.”

News is coming out so quickly. I think I will stop posting about it for a while and just check the site Doctor Kelly prescribed. So far no one has dropped dead in the street. That would start a panic. Peter

A high school in Washington State canceled classes and was closed on Thursday after a staff member reported that a family member who had traveled with them internationally became sick and was being quarantined and tested for the novel coronavirus. In a letter sent to Bothell High School families, Superintendent Michelle Reid said that the staff member was also being quarantined at home for 14 days.

Nestle SA has suspended international business travel for all of its employees as a precautionary measure related to the global spread of the coronavirus. The international food and pet care company, whose U.S. division is based in Rosslyn, has instituted the travel ban through March 15. The ban extends to all 291,000 Nestle employees, including those based locally, according to a spokesman.

If US intelligence officers get their hands on information about a catastrophic, imminent terrorist attack with unknown origins that will kill 250,000 Americans within the United States if unchecked, what should the president of this country do? Right now, there are thousands of unsuspected bio-terrorists armed with a deadly virus that kills one out of every 200 infected people around the world and some of those bio-terrorists already managed to infiltrate our borders and wreak havoc on American lives and economy.

Syracuse University is temporarily banning travel by students, faculty and staff to South Korea because of the coronavirus outbreak. Anyone who travels to South Korea during the temporary ban will not be able to return to any SU building or facility for 14 days to allow for self-monitoring for any coronavirus symptoms, SU said in an email sent to students and employees this morning.

[Jon Letendre]

I never have been able to track down what acid she was talking about. My high school chemistry teacher assured me there was no such named acid. I’m sure there are thousands of “acids” and I’m not surprised no one has heard of all of them, but I have never been able to find a good explanation, either.

I use a lot of apple cider vinegar, at 5% acidity. Drop rusty parts into a pan of it overnight and all the orange iron rust is now a fine jet-black powder at the bottom of the pan.

[Jon Letendre]

The other day my daughter in high school had a little talking to because the teacher was upset that when she mentioned the coronavirus during class my daughter said she knew some kids who have the virus. The teacher suggested China, pen-pals in China? She answered no, right here in Denver. She had her going for a while, then it ended when she said that infection leads straight to alcohol poisoning, every time.

[Ellen Stuttle]

22 minutes ago, Jon Letendre said:

I have ever have been able to track down what acid she was talking about.

Phenol, I suppose.  "Carbolic acid" is the term for that I recall hearing growing up.

See Wikipedia:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenol

From the History section:

Quote

Phenol was discovered in 1834 by Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge, who extracted it (in impure form) from coal tar.[39] Runge called phenol "Karbolsäure" (coal-oil-acid, carbolic acid).

 

[Jon Letendre]

4 minutes ago, Ellen Stuttle said:

Phenol, I suppose.  "Carbolic acid" is the term for that I recall hearing growing up.

See Wikipedia:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenol

From the History section:

 

Thanks! Coal tar is nasty. I used it on my skin for years (psoriasis) before the injectable biologics came around.

For the first time I have a scent reference for how Petrograd smelled: like a pile of creosote-soaked rail ties.

[ThatGuy]

1 hour ago, Ellen Stuttle said:

START QUOTE

Petrograd smelt of carbolic acid.

A pinkish gray banner that had been red, hung in the webbing of steel beams.  Tall girders rose to a roof of glass panes gray as the steel with the dust and wind of many years; some of the girders were broken, pierced by forgotten shots, sharp edges gaping upon a sky as gray as the glass.  Under the banner hung a fringe of cobwebs; under the cobwebs -- a huge railway clock with black figures on a yellow face and no hands.  Under the clock, a crowd of pale faces and greasy overcoats waited for the train.

Kira Argounova entered Petrograd on the threshold of a boxcar.  She stood straight, motionless, with the graceful indifference of a traveler on a luxurious ocean liner, with an old blue suit of faded cloth, with slender sunburned legs and no stockings.  She had an old piece of plaid silk around her neck, and short tousled hair, and a stockingcap with a bright yellow tassle.  She had a calm mouth and slightly widened eyes with the defiant, enraptured, solemnly and fearfully expectant look of a warrior who is entering a strange city and is not quite sure whether he is entering it as a conqueror or a captive.

Behind her was a car overloaded with a freight of humans and bundles. [...]

END QUOTE

It's a great first line and a great begining.  Rand really knew how to start a novel.

Ellen

"The other bore a huge white louse on a black background with red letters: 

'LICE SPREAD DISEASE! CITIZEN, UNITE ON THE ANTI-TYPHUS FRONT!'

"The smell of carbolic acid rose higher than all the rest. Station buildings were disinfected against the diseases that poured into the city on every train. Like a breath from a hospital window, the odor hung in the air as a warning and a grim reminder."
 

[Jon Letendre]

It almost reads like the rulers of the USSR used the constant  fear of invisible threats to keep the citizenry in psychological crisis. Do people rise up against the real threat when all they can think about is the death on their hands from going outside?

[ThatGuy]

6 minutes ago, Jon Letendre said:

It almost reads like the rulers of the USSR used the constant  fear of invisible threats to keep the citizenry in psychological crisis. Do people rise up against the real threat when all they can think about is the death on their hands from going outside?

Hmmm...

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/484933-warren-introduces-bill-to-redirect-wall-money-to-coronavirus

"Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced legislation on Thursday to redirect border wall funding to combating the coronavirus.

"The bill, according to Warren’s office, would result in approximately $10 billion being shifted from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

“Rather than use taxpayer dollars to pay for a monument to hate and division, my bill will help ensure that the federal government has the resources it needs to adequately respond to this emergency,' the 2020 Democratic hopeful said in a statement. "

[Jon Letendre]

She needs campaign funds. Apparently Health and Human Services is an agency Trump hasn’t totally cleaned out yet.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

1 hour ago, Ellen Stuttle said:

It's a great first line and a great beginning.  Rand really knew how to start a novel.

Ellen,

I once saw a talk by Mimi Gladstein (at the AS 50th year anniversary conference held by TAS). She said that much of Rand's descriptions in her novels are like movie shots.

That opening of We the Living that you quoted sure is--with the exception of the first line, which engages the sense of smell. I just noticed that smell has its own paragraph. And since the odor seems to be pungent, it does catch one's attention. Even if one does not know what the smell of carbolic acid is, the context and use of the word "acid" implies a strong disinfectant odor.

Good writing engages the senses--that's a principle that has been taught to writers forever. Rand certainly learned it well. Sight and sound are the main senses used for movie writing, although this description after the first line relied only on sight. (Think silent films.) I might look at other descriptions in her later fiction to see if sound plays a part. 

As I reread Rand's fiction, I keep seeing Mimi's observation about Rand writing descriptions like movie shots. With a few small changes, that opening could be the start of a screenplay.

Michael

[Ellen Stuttle]

2 hours ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

As I reread Rand's fiction, I keep seeing Mimi's observation about Rand writing descriptions like movie shots. With a few small changes, that opening could be the start of a screenplay.

Rand was extraordinary at evoking the visual.

An example I've thought of a lot of times is "Red Pawn" (which I think was a screenplay).  Especially a scene in a chamber which had religious iconography overlaid by Soviet symbols.  Also, the description of the island at the beginning reminds me of the Böcklin painting "The Isle of the Dead."

And what about the start of Atlas?  And the description of the first run on the John Galt Line?  Wow.

Ellen

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

I just went through a set of commercial training videos for a video and trends software I bought (the guy's name is Paul Ponna and the software is called Video Dashboard if anyone is interested).

I learned something very interesting about the coronavirus. According to Ponna, it is hitting dropshippers hard and is going to have a major impact on the businesses of many, many people.

The short version is that many factories in China are shutting down due to mail and delivery shutting down. People and stores that have been reselling products coming from China, and businesses that have been supplying Chinese factories with raw materials and parts to be assembled, are going to have to scramble hard just to stay in business.

This means whoever in America switches over to selling American made stuff (or local made stuff for other countries) is going to make a killing, especially over the next 6 months as the supply crunch hits. This also means many prices are going to rise.

Granted, Ponna probably exaggerated some of what he said, but the gist sounds right to my ears.

If you work in a field where sales is a factor and find value in this tidbit, take it and run with it. Thar's money in them thar hills.  

For as crummy as it sounds to cash in on a trend like the coronavirus, this is a fact of life, not the fault of the market. On the upside, a trend of this magnitude does not come around very often.

When you think about it, no one will be actually cashing in on the coronavirus. Instead, they will cash in on the idiocy of the globalists that tried to replace the USA with China and succeeded with far too many businesses. These last are the ones that are going to suffer. Nobody is taking anything from them that is not the result of their own lack of prudence and long-term business savvy. The huge hole in supply will be filled by people who see the opportunity, not crummy people without a heart.

This is going to impact big companies like Apple, too, although I bet many of them will be able to work around the problem simply because they have the resources to set up their cheap labor projects and sweatshops, etc., in other countries rather quickly. They will take a hit, but should rebound in short order.

Michael