Claude_Verret

Here's my take on the masks, from someone who has personally cultured enough flu virus in the lab to potentially kill hundreds of thousands of people in my career . Would they help if everyone wore one in public? Yes, somewhat. However, even if you somehow achieved 100% compliance, you'd still have well over half of people wearing them improperly which cancels out whatever marginal benefit you get from mask usage. I think you saw the shift in message from the CDC on mask usage because when more people wear them, its a good reminder to maintain social distancing. Social distancing >>> mask wearing in terms of preventing spread.

Ice girls.

Did you read the website I linked where they disavowed any association with white supremacists and racists? Their purpose is clearly to remember their dead ancestors and not the lost cause they stood for. If all racist institutions should be burned down...and Lincoln is certainly an institution unto himself..and he also held unquestionable racist views...then by your standard burn it down, right? Edit: it looks like the Lincoln Memorial has been vandalized by the rioters.

Abraham Lincoln was an unabashed racist by both 19th and 21st century standards. Let's burn down the Lincoln Memorial.

Here's what I know about their stated purpose. https://hqudc.org/ Even if you personally still consider this racist...it's no excuse to burn down their property. But you already knew that.

Why?

Tough times. My wife is a NP with a large pediatric practice. About two weeks in they had to furlough more than half the office and nursing staff. Normally she would see 25+ patients a day, now she sees 5-10. They are now asking a lot of docs to cut their hours. My wife was already part time so she is keeping her hours, but depending on how much longer this goes it could get dicey for her.

I do this from time to time.

He does mention that the wet market bat theory is the currently accepted theory, and I agree that it was an early and widely accepted theory, but the lab leak is certainly another plausible one. I mentioned early on in this thread than nobody knows the full picture of what is going on in real time no matter what their credentials are. That includes expert virologists, epidemiologists, the President and random bloggers that you see quoted on social media. Anyone who tells you that they know how things are working right now or how they will end up months from now are simply guessing. Some are making those guesses from a foundation that warrants attention, but most are just pulling stuff from their ass. The epidemiologists and virologists will give us a full post mortem on this pandemic that will be vetted by peer review, but that's going to take a few years...and let's face it by then most people wont care.

No, I didnt sign up for the webinar in time so I haven't seen it. It sounds like the webinar will be released in pieces over the coming weeks.

I wish I had seen this webinar, but this is an excellent summary of it and major takeaways. Highly recommended reading to get the 30,000 ft view on pandemics and COVID-19. https://nutritionfacts.org/2020/04/16/takeaways-from-my-webinar-on-covid-19/

Despite the stay at home order we are trying to do a weekly short trip for some outdoor time where we are unlikely to encounter many people. So yesterday I drove the family about an hour southeast of us to Bentonville Battlefield, site of the last major offensive of the Confederacy. As Sherman continued his march from Columbia, SC towards Raleigh he was attacked by Joseph Johnston's army here in mid March 1865. The war essentially ended at Appomattox in early April so this crucial battle is often overlooked. There is a 3 mile battlefield walking tour/trail and we saw not a single soul on the entire walk. This is a state run battlefield so the welcome center and a historical building that was used as a field hospital during the battle were not open, but they did a great job on the walking trail as remnants of the union trenches are still visible, with many placards along the way that describe movements and major events. We also paired this with a chance to support local businesses and stopped for drive by beer pickup at Deep River Brewing. https://historicsites.nc.gov/all-sites/bentonville-battlefield

It's been a nice way to break up the monotony of lockdown, but I'm not sure how much more my back can take sleeping on a cot.

Created "Camp Covid" in the backyard. Wife and I have been alternating sleeping in the tent with one of the kids as weather permits.

Very interesting... a long, long time ago I used to research iron metabolic pathways and molecular mechanisms. I'll need to dust off that part of my brain and go read some of these current studies.

R.I.P.

Although it doesn't go back to when I joined, fittingly the first one the archive shows for me is from a Canes Sabres game day thread 2/12/2006. Link to article is dead, but undoubtedly it was authored by Luke DeCock. I want to know how losing one game in your last eight is considered slumping? WTF? Form today's Raleigh N&O: "Buffalo roams into town slumping too" Link I'll be at Blinco's as well before the game

I'll try to fix the link. Nice two man show from a dock overlooking Lake Gaston on a beautiful blue skied afternoon in NC. You're right about smoking, grilling and basically eating wtf we want..our choices in our younger days definitely catch up...let that be a lesson to you young SS whippersnappers.

Plan originally was to postpone party to early May and do some sort of st.pattys / cinco de mayo hybrid party, but that's looking highly unlikely at this point. Pastrami might be the way to go even though I dont fire up the smoker much anymore, but unconventional times call for mixing up the norm. Band we hire for the party currently live streaming a show from Lake Gaston, NC. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=642511246544295&id=121500934700514?sfnsn=mo&d=n&vh=e

Drinking some homebrew...a dry irish stout that should have been long gone already, but our big St. Patrick's day party was canceled because covid-19. Also have 16 corned beef briskets in the freezer uncooked.

I ended up watching it. Well done synopsis of those playoffs. A lot of coverage of the ECF game one Raleigh invasion and baby eating too. Briere summed it up perfectly. Easier to accept losing 06/07 to the Sens as the Sens proved that they were the better team that year fair and square. Its clear that none of those guys believe that they lost to a better team in 05/06. That's because they didn't. They lost to another very good team that got the great preponderence of the breaks that are so essential on the quest for those 16 wins.

It's still too painful to revisit that year. The 05/06 Sabres are right there with the 1990 Bills as the two teams that should have brought Buffalo its first major pro sports championship.

John Prine in critical condition with covid19 https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/03/29/john-prine-critical-hospital-coronavirus-symptoms/2937334001/

All bets are off at this point as far as normal reporting for clinical trials. I have a friend who travels the country monitoring clinical trials and he's completely shut down like everyone else. I'm sure there will be some leeway given for reporting given the current circumstances, but I'd still be leery of fudged/cooked data.

With all this extra time cooped up at home it was suggested to me to try the ancient practice of sitting down with an entire album and listening to it in order from beginning to end. The way us old farts did it back in the 70's and 80s! So last night I sat in my man cave and listened to this in 5.1 surround in its entirety, something I had never done before with this album even though I consider almost every song to be a masterpiece. Fans of early Genesis, Yes and Pink Floyd should consider giving it a listen.