Nerm

Solar charger is a good idea. I was thinking trying to figure out a way to generate power physically. I have a 12 year old and 14 year old I could put on a treadmill while I binge watch a few shows.

I feel ok about food supply. My car is about empty on gas though, I should probably get that filled today. Loss of power or water for an extended period would be rough though. I'm a fat guy with apnea, it has been a long time since I have even attempted to sleep without a CPAP. I wonder what Darth Vader uses for a power source?

@Dan T.. Sounds like a nightmare. I think I would also rent a car and drive across the country than go through that whole process.

What a coincidence, your day sounds exactly like mine. Except for the exercise part.

I'm self employed, and struggling to decide what changes I should make. This next week, my appointments are mostly disability evaluations and mental health treatment. The majority of people I see are taking off work to come see me, then returning to work after the appointment. So, they are most likely to be interacting with a lot more people if I decided to cancel the appointments. They may also feel more pressured to continue working if their disability claims are delayed. Right now, I plan to use new writing utensils for every patient that has to fill out any paperwork, and wipe down all surfaces that a patient may come in contact with between all appointments (doors, clipboards, tables, desk, etc.). I'm not ready to just close up shop indefinitely at this point.

Maybe so, but I think a lot of people are seeing all of this through such a political lense. Trump was blasted for xenophobia because he instituted a travel ban from China, while the WHO said it wasn't necessary... until 48 hours later. Does he get a bunch of credit for being proactive? Don't get me wrong, Trump clearly uses xenophobia for political reasons. But it is so strange to me how people are so strongly inclined to view everything through a political lense. How many people complaining about Trump will give him the benefit of the doubt when his responses change over the course of 48 hours... based on new information.

The flip side of that. Wasn't AOC on record around 48 hours ago that people were racist for not eating in Chinese restaurants during this pandemic?

My mother just canceled her plans to go to Holland, because of the Coronavirus stuff (or maybe the company running it canceled it). She and my stepdad decided on a drive to Yellowstone instead. I think it is my duty as a good son to start emailing them Yellowstone doomsday articles a couple times per week now.

Unfortunately for me, next week is scheduled to be my busiest week at work in the past few months. I have more than double the appointments than I have had in the past six weeks. This is all occurring while my kids school will be shut down for at least the next week. I would tell my boss that he is a moron, and that he is being unreasonable... however, I am self employed, and my wife already makes sure that I am aware of those things. I tried to do a party/campaign with my family a few months ago. It was pretty cool, but it was kind of hard with only three players (and my youngest being a 12 year old with downs syndrome). But, this is the perfect time to try it again, as we told our kids they can't have any sleepovers during the school shutdown. Plus my 14 year old enjoyed it, and she usually doesn't want to do anything with the family.

I do think Trump is a horrible human and a horrible president. But, I also think it matters if people are being misled about what is actually happening. The way that Trump is constantly dishonest about things is one of the reasons he is a terrible person/president.

I may be confused, but the most recent factcheck article I linked seemed to say that the pandemic team that was fired, was actually a temporary Ebola program that was designed by the Obama administration to end in 2019. The people were not replaced, because the program was done. But, I have no idea if I am understanding that correctly.

Unless I am misunderstanding the article, it seems that the factcheck is saying that the claims being made in that article are incorrect, and based information from 2018 news reports that are not accurate.

https://www.factcheck.org/2020/03/false-claim-about-cdcs-global-anti-pandemic-work/ https://www.factcheck.org/2020/03/democrats-misleading-coronavirus-claims/ I think Trump is a disaster, so don't take this as a defense of him. But, I have not seen anything that confirms the repeated claims about cuts to the CDC contributing to the current situation. Is there any possibility that this issue is actually "fake news"?

My wife read a bunch about the hoarding habits regarding TP and hand sanitizer tonight. She has been blissfully unaware of the issues discussed in this thread. We joked about the TP hoarding, and she went to Sam's club and Amazon online, then we laughed some more about them being sold out. However, I have lived long enough to know that it is possible that things I think are funny at some point, are no longer funny at a later date. For example, the jokes that parents make to their teens include the possibility that they may eventually have teenage kids of their own. I can confirm that those jokes are not at all funny when you are in an argument with your own teenage daughter. That **** actually happens at some point, and it is terrifying. What the hell, that isn't a joke. So, basically I am nervous about the possibility that a week from now, I will be having a discussion with my wife about what the plan is to get through a week without toilet paper, while regretting that we were joking about it last week rather than taking action. I feel like we are the type of people that talk a big game about tHe zombie apocalypse, but then sit around talking about how it will blow over when it starts to happen.

That sentiment of "don't be worried unless I am" reminds me of my first heart attack, about 5 years ago. I wasn't sure I was having a serious problem, but after about 5 hours Of pain, I finally called 911. When the paramedics get to my house, one asks me if I can walk to the ambulance, which I felt I could have. But the other, apparently more experienced/senior paramedic says, "No, look at him. Get the stretcher." That freaked me out a bit, but I stayed pretty calm and called my wife from the ambulance after the paramedics confirmed that I was having an actual heart attack. Wanted to tell her I love her, but I still felt fairly confident that I was going to live. After all,I was in a vehicle with people trained to restart my heart if it stopped. So, when I get to the hospital, I answer all the doctors questions and the tell me they are going to put in some stents immediately. Overall, I was pretty calm about it, because the doctors seemed confident. They tell one of the nurses to clear out the cath lab to get me in there. The nurse comes back and says they will be out in 5 or 10 minutes. Then one of the doctors said, "Did you tell them what we're looking at here? Get them out now!". It was a bit of an eye opening moment, thinking I may not exist in 10 minutes. It was anxiety provoking, but I lived to tell the tale.

I was in Vegas when the Coronavirus started to get so much news coverage. It really struck me how a casino seems to have the potential to be a "perfect storm" environment for spreading a virus like that. With the slot machines being touched by hundreds of different people in a day. People coming from, then returning to all parts of the country/world. It seems like one infected blackjack dealer could spread the virus like wildfire. Also, it makes me think about voting booths. Honestly, it has been a while since I voted, so I don't really know what the procedures are in various places. Do most places still have pens or little stylists that are used by everyone that goes into the booth? I think that Washington state has their primary Tuesday, along with several other states. I'm curious if there are plans to alter any voting procedures to address Coronavirus concerns. Voting by mail certainly looks more appealing in this situation.

I never watched Sabrina the teenage witch, but I did watch the chilling adventures of Sabrina, based on a recommendation here on this board. I have to say, the last season was particularly deep... addressing many of the questions that we all have, but are afraid to ask. Such as "What would it be like if we dressed Sabrina in a cheerleader outfit for most of the season?"; "How strange would it be to start including musical numbers, randomly, in episodes after not having any in the first few seasons?"; "Can we get the Run DMC song It's Tricky stuck in Nerm's head for more than a week?" Honestly, if I did not watch the final season, i would have gone to my grave thinking the lyrics for It's tricky were "It's tricky to rock around". Now I know that I have been singing it wrong my whole life, all because I watched Sabrina sing "It's tricky to rock a rhyme" while I had the closed captions on. So, I learned things about the world and myself due to that show.

I have talked with several veterans who described what they saw happen to calm, peaceful, and law abiding citizens after they were disarmed to promote safety and the rule of law. When they tell their stories, they have a very straight face. I have Native American friends here in South Dakota whose ancestors, including women and children, were slaughtered on the Pine Ridge reservation right after the American government disarmed them. The soldiers were given the Medal of Honor for it. The descriptions of the event are passed down from generation to generation in their families, and told with a straight face.

I understand the logic behind not grandfathering previous purchases, but from a practical standpoint, if your goal is to reduce gun violence, then I think grandfathering previous purchases makes a lot of sense. I know a lot of people in this thread dismiss rural/red state citizens as backwards, ignorant, "gun nuts". These are people I have lived around my whole life. They are not violent people. However, I have met many people that would resist if the government came to disarm them when they have not done anything to threaten others. Especially veterans. I think attempts to confiscate guns would result in more violence, rather than less. A ban on sales would not necessarily do that.

I live in South Dakota, so I am currently enjoying a few cheap, flavorless, light beers.

As a 46 year old man, I started watching this show a few days ago based on your post. I'm on episode 5 of the first season. My wife asked me today "Are you really watching this now?" I assured her that it is ok for me to watch, because it was recommended by other mature football fans. So far, so good. But if it gets really stupid, I am going to blame you for my wife telling me how dumb it is. Of course, I will never admit it if the show isn't great. That would go against everything that I believe regarding marital disagreements.

I think I read earlier today that the Ravens have only punted twice in the past three games, and both of those punts occurred after Lamar was pulled because the game was well in hand. So, their first team offense has not punted in three games now (If what I read was accurate). I also found out this week that Joe Theismann led the Redskins in punt returns and punt return yards in 1974. That blows my mind.

That's just good parenting right there.

Wow, I can't believe all the disrespect for Boba Fett here. The guy ran a scam on Vader to get a big bounty. That takes guts. Didn't he wait to grab Han and Leia, just so he could get paid? I mean, he takes the job to find the Mellennium Falcon while standing on Vader's ship. He had to know the Falcon was still attached to Vader's ship, since he waited to follow the Falcon by using the same trick Han did (floating away with the trash dumped by The star destroyers). So, I think it is pretty funny he didn't mention to Vader that he knew the Falcon was right there. He might have got stiffed on his pay if Vader knew it was that easy.

Thanks for the heads up. I will lower my expectations for the final season.