Bob Mayer's Blog, page 42

Day 43: 2020 Pandemic. Don’t Lose Track of Other Potential Disasters During The Pandemic

California was shaking the other morning. We had deadly tornadoes in this area last week killing 33 that would have been front page news except that COVID-19 is the focus. The summer is looming with warmer weather. The southwest is still suffering from an almost two decades long drought.

Yes, happy news on top of happy news, I know. Just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean people have been out to get me. You know who I’m talking about.

I think we all now accept that being prepared is key. People have asked me how I had surgical masks and N100 respirators before this happened and it was just part of my preparation.

BTW—if you have a respirator like an N100 or an N95 with an exhale valve, you should still wear a surgical mask over it because while it protects you, it doesn’t do as much for those around you with the exhale. Anywho.

My wife and I were talking about when this first reared up and we ramped up preparation, well before I even started this daily blog. How we worst-cased things and made sure we were ready. I really don’t believe we’ve hit peak yet—in fact I think a lot of these states that are thinking about opening up are going to be slammed (read Georgia)—but so far, social distancing and other measures have helped prevent it being horrible; simply terrible as we reach 50,000 dead.

Since this started I’ve expanded my preparation, not only for ourselves, but to check out various things, such as solar power. I’m still working with it and plan in the next week or so to take some of this stuff to the mountains and test it out at a base camp. Yesterday, I activated a two way satellite messenger because it’s always concerned me when I’m by myself out in the wild, out of cell phone coverage, and something happens back home with my wife or to me in the wilds. You know, sort of 127 hours thing. So I’ll let you know how that works out. But that’s for later. BTW– did you know park rangers have had to perform more than 2 dozen rescues of idiots going to check it out from the same area where that event occurred, including one man who fell, broke his leg and had to crawl for four days, trying to get out? Duh.

I did earlier posts on basic preparation and I’m going to circle back. While a pandemic is perhaps the only, definitely one of the few, natural disasters that doesn’t lead to a lack of water, the #1 priority in normal preparation is water. My base line is two cases of bottled water per person in your household. Just get them, put them in a dark closet and forget about them. Until you need them. Then a first aid kit for basic things. I’m a fan of having a Quik-Clot bandage handy. I’ve got a bunch and have used it once. I carry them on my bike, in my day pack, in my Grab-n-Go bags, in my Jeep, etc.

An emergency radio, that also doubles as a flashlight and an emergency cell phone charger is another must have. And finally a survival manual with first aid info. I’ve got three I recommend.

Here’s the slideshow on the basics you can accumulate for under $60.

Four Key Survival Items for $60 you must have from Bob Mayer

Stay safe. Stay positive. Be like Cool Gus. Or even Scout.

The Green Beret Preparation and Survival Guide. Also now in Kindle Unlimited.

The Green Beret Pocket-Sized Survival Guide (same as above, minus the preparation part in order to be smaller in print)

Day 42: 2020 Pandemic. Is The Curve Flattening Or Are We Just Not Doing Enough Tests?

The diagram seems to suggest the curve is flattening, which would be good news. The reality is testing is so poor in terms of numbers, it pretty much means nothing. The military admitted today to the Senate they can’t test enough. Governors of various states are desperately trying to get their own tests as the federal government has not followed through on any of the boasts about number of tests that have been made.

The term per capita needs to be explained to someone, but then you’d have to get into math and then who knows?

I’ve been studying the news that’s available and have to admit I’m confused. Lots of conflicting information. This virus is hitting some people in very strange ways: not just the lungs, but the heart, the brain and now we’re learning its forming blood clots.

I have to leave the house tomorrow and go to the eye doctor for my follow up and am not thrilled about it. Especially since he’s been seeing people since this started. I have a N100 mask, but will wear a regular surgical mask, even though the N100 is safer for me. The reason? The N100 has an exhale which means it doesn’t do anything about my breathing out. Out of respect for the nurse, doctor and others there, I’ll wear the other mask that limits their exposure to me. Even though I know I’m okay because I’m anti-social anyway.

What’s not debatable is that the official count is over 47,000 dead. Almost double in a week yet we hear all this talk of “re-opening”. Once more, I must be missing something.

On the other side, most Americans believe we need to maintain social distancing, regardless of the economic impact. It’s hard to worry about money when you’re dead.

I’m noticing people fraying and getting more irritable. I do fear that there will be a violent event, either at one of these propaganda rallies or just randomly. I’ve noticed people snipping at benign comments I’ve made on social media (even at Snoopy!).

I understand some of it—there are people who will reject almost anything initially. My wife says I’m a contrarian but I have to disagree with her. However, I do see it creeping it up a bit more. So we all need a bit more patience and its best not to respond, especially to people who have the crazy eyes. We’ve all met them.

Stay safe. Stay positive. Be like Cool Gus. Or even Scout.

The Green Beret Preparation and Survival Guide. Also now in Kindle Unlimited.

The Green Beret Pocket-Sized Survival Guide (same as above, minus the preparation part in order to be smaller in print)

Day 40: 2020 Pandemic. Check Your Oxygen Saturation As An Early Sign of COVID-19 Induced Pneumonia

We’ve heard all the news about the need for ventilators; a big reason for that is because by the time many people are admitted to the hospital and testing positive for COVID-19, their blood oxygen levels are dangerously low and they’ve basically had a stealth form of pneumonia for a week or more.

Most of the time when you get pneumonia, you are very short of breath. But COVID-19 affects the lungs differently and you can feel reasonably fine despite the fact you are hypoxic.

If you start experiencing any of the other symptoms of COVID-19 it would be wise to track your blood oxygen level. If its going down, that’s a danger sign!

I’m not a doctor and here is one article that discusses it by a doctor, but it makes sense.

I bought a pulse oximeter today at the local CVS. It appears others have learned of this because they are on back order on Amazon, although not too badly and I’ve noticed a lot of backordered items are shipping faster than posted. Pictured is one that Amazon says will ship in a few days.

The CDC info on symptoms is below. Here is page.

PS—had a new book come out today: Area 51: Earth Abides. Part of the plot revolves around a planet-sized virus, so I like to think big! If you watched Picard, it’s in that vein.

Stay safe. Stay positive. Be like Cool Gus. Or even Scout.

The Green Beret Preparation and Survival Guide. Also now in Kindle Unlimited.

The Green Beret Pocket-Sized Survival Guide (same as above, minus the preparation part in order to be smaller in print)

Day 39: 2020 Pandemic. Enter Zip Code and Get Data. Also, information on masks and effectiveness. South Carolina; of course

Here is a useful page where you can enter your zip code and get local information about COVID-19:  https://www.cnn.com/resources/coronavirus-information/

Here is a page on the various types of face masks. Also information on self-made ones and effectiveness. Coffee filters? Interesting. It’s not rocket science but it is science: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/health/coronavirus-best-face-masks.html

South Carolina is opening its beaches today. Seriously. Because you know only 6,235 American died yesterday (that we know of and count). Seems like South Carolina is always stirring some shit. Must be something in the water. We did live there for several years on Hilton Head and it was a little nuts to say the least.

I just read an article about a long-time bar owner from Brooklyn who went on a cruise that departed on 1 March. His kids begged him not to go, but he was a Fox news aficionado and Sean Hannity et al, along with the President, were saying everything was under control. So he went. It must be odd to simply trust one’s life to a single source of information. He’s dead BTW.

Stay safe. Stay positive. Be like Cool Gus. Or even Scout.

The Green Beret Preparation and Survival Guide. Also now in Kindle Unlimited.

The Green Beret Pocket-Sized Survival Guide (same as above, minus the preparation part in order to be smaller in print)

Day 38: 2020 Pandemic. Free books and audiobooks. Because; why not?

Because I need to get back to practical things for a moment and put aside my rage/anguish over what is happening to the United States.

Here are some free books and audio short stories. I update this page daily and am constantly rotating free and discounted books through it. I’ve noticed a sharp upswing in downloads of free books as people are stuck at home and also many are pinched financially.

Also, I have single use download codes for a number of my books in audiobook from Audible. The thing is, since they’re single use, I can’t post them but have to send them individually. So I’m going to start listing titles and if you’re interested, and I still have codes left, I’ll send them to you. I’m gonna be honest—I’ve done this before and NO ONE asks. I don’t know if they think they’re going to be put on a list or its spam or whatever. But no, I don’t add you to a list and I delete your email after replying. I just reply with the instructions and code. If you do want to sign up for my infrequent email list which always features free books and interesting information from Cool Gus, you can do that HERE. But, seriously, there’s no hook attached to this. So if you want any of these books in audiobook on Audible (and you don’t even have to a member of Audible!), email me at bob@bobmayer.com and tell me which one. I’ll be posting more in future blogs.

ATLANTIS 

AREA 51  

CUT OUT       THE GREEN BERETS

IDES OF MARCH TIME PATROL

Stay safe. Stay positive. Be like Cool Gus. Or even Scout.

The Green Beret Preparation and Survival Guide. Also now in Kindle Unlimited.

The Green Beret Pocket-Sized Survival Guide (same as above, minus the preparation part in order to be smaller in print)

And, oh yeah. the print and audio of Area 51: Earth Abides are both live and the ebook will be out Monday. I think the book is more timely than ever as it deals with a massive virus called the Swarm and finally answers where it came from and what its purpose was.

Day 36: 2020 Pandemic. Did I Miss Something? Did This Already Peak Across the Country?

Listening to the news today it felt like a lot of people are acting like we’re on the downslope of this pandemic, while I feel like it hasn’t really come close to peaking in most parts of the country, including where I live. NYC is just beginning to do a slight dip after apparently leveling off but its only been a couple of days and hundreds of people are still dying there every day. The national toll has almost doubled in just the past several days.

Yet all the talk is about reopening. Yet there aren’t enough tests, we don’t know enough about getting reinfected and so much more is unknown. And if Trump is saying the governors have to do it, what exactly is this “task force” to reopen the country made up of Republican senators and his daughter and son-in-law doing?

I have to admit I am very confused. I understand people are getting frustrated but there is so much disinformation out there, it’s frightening. We went ape shit after 9-11. Hell, lots of people are screaming about four dead at Benghazi. We’ll be close to the Vietnam War death toll in a week or so.

I think people need to slow down and study the reality a little bit more. We haven’t “won”. This thing isn’t fighting us. It’s a force of nature.

Let’s see where we stand at the end of this month. People gave me shit and were comparing it to the flu just 36 days ago. Now over 38,000 people at least (and that number is way off on the low side) and those same people are screaming “Let’s get back to normal!”

There shouldn’t be a get back to. We need a new, smart normal.

Stay safe. Stay positive. Be like Cool Gus. Or even Scout.

The Green Beret Preparation and Survival Guide. Also now in Kindle Unlimited.

The Green Beret Pocket-Sized Survival Guide (same as above, minus the preparation part in order to be smaller in print)

PS– guns don’t work against a virus.

Day 35: 2020 Pandemic. Life Is NOT Normal. But This Is A True Reality

The saying above is a truism. Most Americans have been living in a bubble most of our lives. Protected from a harsher reality. Even now, many are still in a bubble. Those areas that haven’t been hard hit by COVID-19 are still moving on, life somewhat changed but not as much as its going to be. Those places that are leveling off want to go back to “normal.”

The rallying cry now is: When do we get back to normal?

Which begs the question: What is normal?

One where we ignored climate change? Where wealth inequality grew by leaps and bounds, with the richer getting richer and the poor being squeezed harder and harder. Even now we see the disparity in even who a virus kills; with more minorities dying. And the poor are dying alone in their apartments or homeless and many will never be counted among the final tolls.

We lost 3,000 Americans on 9-11 and proceeded on a wanton course of destruction, killing hundreds of thousands and spending trillions of dollars. And lost. That lesson needs to really sink it. But it hasn’t.

Pandemics always happen. Any fool who says “No one could have seen this coming!” is a complete idiot who has no clue of history and reality. It was inevitable. And it is inevitable again. It’s likely we’ll be stuck with COVID-19 for a very long time and require yearly vaccination and even then it will kill tens of thousands each year.

As we crank up industry and travel again, climate change will pick up again. Can we cut back on world-wide weapons spending and militaries and shift our energies into making life better? We’ve definitely learned spending over 700 billion on the Department of Defense didn’t defend us. In fact, DOD failed miserably considering biological warfare is one of the three legs of weapons of mass destruction. It’s obvious our military leaders are incompetent and failed their troops and the country.

Can we focus on renewable energy? Can we mothball wasteful and dangerous cruise ships? Cut back on unnecessary air travel? We’ve learned more people can work from home than we thought. Right there we can help the climate by cutting back on commuting.

Life not only won’t get back to “normal”. It shouldn’t get back to normal.

Stay safe. Stay positive. Be like Cool Gus. Or even Scout.

The Green Beret Preparation and Survival Guide. Also now in Kindle Unlimited.

The Green Beret Pocket-Sized Survival Guide (same as above, minus the preparation part in order to be smaller in print)

Day 33: 2020 Pandemic. Are we just in a simulation? The end of UNITED States?

Okay, a little too much Westworld. But really? We haven’t evolved very far. That’s what Westworld is all about. The old classic Battlestar Galactica question: who is better? Us or the machines? A scary part was last season when Dolores found that one of secrets to Westworld was they were coding all the guests. And humans were simple to code. There was a library of the codes for people and the books were rather slim. We’re really predictable. In fact, the only way to change our code is to accept we’re coded. But a lot of religious dogma and most people think we have free will. Only by accepting we actually don’t, do we. If that makes sense.

Okay, I did also watch 12 Monkeys last night so I think between Brad Pitt being crazy and Bruce Willis traveling in time and Westworld and the current world situation my brain is having a bit of a reality check problem. Plus I write fiction, some of it rather odd. One of my strangest books, about what is reality, is The Fifth Floor, which while part of the Time Patrol series, can stand alone in a way. Multiple points of view, shifting time, dreams, reality, what is which? Inspired by the classic, which my wife and I bonded over when we met as we both had it: The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. Try that one for some light reading.

Two groups of states have joined together in light of the absence of federal leadership. They have made pacts on re-opening their economies. Given the occupant of the White House never really made a clear, concise decision to shutter things, it makes sense, despite his tweets to the opposite.

NY-NJ-CT-PA-RI and Delaware have joined together. WA-OR and WA have also joined together. One senses that if the current occupant of the White House is re-elected, there is a very good chance our country will break apart. I’ve been telling my son that for a while; since he lives in San Diego. The problem when you pit groups against each other is that those groups can sometimes coalesce and fight back.

What’s also interesting is if you look at Federal income and expenditures, the blue states pump a ton more income into the Federal government than they get back and the red states take more than they give. Interesting conundrum.

I drove around Knoxville today and the sense I get it is people here aren’t taking this serious. Perhaps those states that haven’t been slammed yet might be ahead of the curve since they got to see what happened in WA and NY and CA so schools were shuttered and other measures taken before we got hit bad. Time will tell. I certainly don’t wish anyone harm.

Now I am going to unplug and reboot the simulation and see if that works. I will bring myself “back online”. But only if Arnold tells me. Or should it be Dolores?

Stay safe. Stay positive. Be like Cool Gus. Or even Scout.

The Green Beret Preparation and Survival Guide. Also now in Kindle Unlimited.

The Green Beret Pocket-Sized Survival Guide (same as above, minus the preparation part in order to be smaller in print)

Day 32: 2020 Pandemic. The More I Learn; The Less I Know. What Is Real?

A happy picture, although they are not adhering to social distancing, of Scout and Cool Gus in my office with Tigger ready to pounce in Gus’ defence.

There is no lack of information about COVID-19 on the Internet. The same with various responses to it.

Here’s one thing that seems true, unless someone can correct me: the federal government’s response has been pathetic at best, nonexistent for most of us. Has anyone seen the check touted weeks ago? Or the loans?

Who is in charge in Washington? Pence’s task force? Kushner’s task force? Trump at the briefings? The sense I get from all I read is that this administration is viewing this as an opportunity to enrich those who have patronage and also make money. The lack of empathy would be stunning except that we’re almost number to it by now.

The pivot has gone from “this will go to zero” to “if only a hundred thousand die I should be congratulated”. Rather stunning. People forget that Trump and Roy Cohn lost their civil case about discrimination many years ago and Cohn taught him something important: they claimed they won and then sued the government. They lost the suit, but still claimed they won. No matter what happens, Trump will claim he won. No matter how many dead. Of course, Trump rewarded Cohn with fake cuff links and ignoring him on his death bed. Those are just facts: not political except it involves a politician.

I focus in images because they are real (so far, but I’m sure there are fake ones and false memes being made up). The long lines of cars at food banks are scary. What it means is that even though stores are reasonably stocked, a lot of people who have been laid off simply can’t afford to buy food. This ripple effect will be worse over the next two months.

My plan is to contribute to local food banks as much as possible.

I’ve read numerous reports that 1/3 of renters could not pay their rent this month. That’s an amazing number and think of the economic ripple effect along that chain.

The supply chain is starting to fray all along it from the source to the consumer. A pork factory that produces roughly 4% for the nation shut down after hundreds of employees tested positive. UPS, Fedex and USPS employees are testing positive.

We have a certain segment arguing for reopening the country. Unless, I’m mistaken, some of the country just shut down a week or so ago? Since there was no federal mandate, states were left on their own.

The next couple of weeks will be critical. It’s weird but I just searched back on my posts and I was mentioning food at least by Day 5. So if I haven’t here is my free slideshow on food; what might be helpful is the part about expiration dates.

Stay safe. Stay positive. Be like Cool Gus. Or even Scout.

The Green Beret Preparation and Survival Guide. Also now in Kindle Unlimited.

The Green Beret Pocket-Sized Survival Guide (same as above, minus the preparation part in order to be smaller in print)

Day 31: 2020 Pandemic. For Those Of You Running, Biking, Walking outside, how safe are you?

The day I blew out my eye riding my bike up Foothills Parkway and gaining 2,000 feet in altitude, one of the reasons I did it was because my usual route, along the Little River from Walland to Townsend was packed with people out enjoying a nice day. More than I’d ever seen. I only saw three other bikers on Foothills since, well, you gain 2,000 feet in like five miles with constant uphill and only an idiot would do that.

Near where I live is a nice park along Cherokee Boulevard and it’s never been so full of people jogging and walking. The road is full of bikers doing loops. And it got me to thinking. Because when I saw all those bikers on my usual route I thought about passing them, or them passing me, and we’re on this narrow road and all breathing hard and well, it just didn’t seem too smart.

Since I blew out the eye, two weeks and one day ago, healing nicely thank you, just small gas bubble left to dissipate, I haven’t had to concern myself with any of that. But then I decided to research a little. Because many people are enjoying this spring weather and all this time on their hands by working out.

I’m not betting my life on this, well, actually, yeah I am since I won’t start biking around others when I start soon; let’s put it this way: Combining research and common sense, I think a lot of people are putting themselves at risk.

First, common sense. You’re peddling away, running hard, whatever. Breathing HARD. Which mean you’re exhaling and inhaling more powerfully than usual. Standard social distancing we all accept, except the wingnuts, is six feet. Just doesn’t seem like normal cuts it when you’re breathing isn’t normal. Frankly, I watch bicyclists pass each other on the road barely two feet apart. Runners passing in either direction less than six feet. Not good.

Research? There’s a Belgian-Dutch study that examined air particles. If you’re running next to each other, the study suggests distancing isn’t as important as if you were still since you’re leaving the particles behind you; but also take into account which way the wind is blowing. However, if one of you is behind? You stand a good chance of breathing in droplets from the person in front. It’s worse if you’re in their slipstream, directly behind.

There are also a large number of variables involved such as temperature, humidity, and wind, besides how fast you are going and how fast others are going relative to you. so these are just guidelines. Also, on the negative side, while some people walking are wearing masks, I’ve yet to see anyone biking or running wearing one.

The recommendations:

Walking in line? Stay four to five meters behind the person in front. 12 to 15 feet.

Running in line? Stay ten meters behind the person in front. 30 feet.

Biking in line? Stay twenty meters behind the person in front. 60 feet.

Now, consider if you’re passing people? Extrapolate. I wouldn’t want to go by another bike only a few feet away or have them go by me. Same with running.

If they’re coming toward you, you end up in their immediate slipstream. Starting to get the picture?

Bottom line? If you’re going to do these activities consider finding places that are abandoned or isolated, not where everyone else is. There are actually places like that if you look hard enough in most areas. Most people naturally congregate to the known spots, sort of like everyone goes through the same door they went in, ignoring emergency exits? Or they leave a theater through one door in a double door until someone wisely pushes open the other part of the door?

Biking, you might have to suck it up and use the indoor trainer. I take the dogs to a fenced ball field that you can’t see from the road, where there’s usually no one. I go inside the fence, let them off the leash and have begun walking the fence perimeter, sort of prisoner-of-war camp style, all around. If someone else is there, I wait until they’re done or use spears to keep them off the fence. So far only two other people have taken advantage of this space while I’ve been there (and there are three fenced ball fields) while hundreds run and bike and walk by just a hundred feet away.

Again, feel free to disregard this, but it doesn’t make sense to maintain social distancing and then ignore it when we’re most active and breathing the hardest. Not only are you putting your particles out there harder, you’re sucking in particles harder and deeper into your lungs.

The Green Beret Preparation and Survival Guide. Also now in Kindle Unlimited.

The Green Beret Pocket-Sized Survival Guide (same as above, minus the preparation part in order to be smaller in print)