Showing posts with label Coronavirus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coronavirus. Show all posts

August 6, 2021

Sign Of The Times

Everything is starting to close back up and require masks again due to the spreading Covid "Delta Variant."

So much for having the masks off for a couple of weeks, which was at least a taste of fresh air and freedom. 

But backwards we go...

A sign of the times in Covid is to park your bicycle in front of the couch, so no one can actually sit down on it and spreads any germs. 

Any bets on what happens from here with all the variants and how this is gonna impact our daily lives for time to come? 

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)


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March 10, 2021

Fashion Masks

Fashion Masks.

For the end of the world. 

If not Covid then for the next big one! 

You want to look you best when the world is destructing. 

Always look your best!  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)


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February 21, 2021

Better Covid Mask


Now that's a better Covid mask.

Full coverage. 

Nice golden shine. 

No need to brush your hair or put on makeup. 

And no one can tell your sleeping in meetings. ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)


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February 3, 2021

The Sniffer Isn't Working


Someone really had a premonition posting this sign before Covid!

The sign says simply:

Smell Me!!

The response to this now-a-days would be the person with Covid yelling back:

I can't smell (or taste) anything!

Now frustrated, the other person replies:

But please, please smell me. 

Second person, tries and tries again:

Sniff, sniff--darn, the sniffer just isn't working. 

Get out the smelling salts!

Six months later, I still can't smell a skunk in the same room. 

What type of crazy pandemic is this!  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)


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January 31, 2021

GameStop Is What I Call A Sh*t Store

For those of you who have been in GameStop, you know what I mean. 

Let's face it, it's a sh*t store!

They have videogames (some that I like) that you can buy online for half the price and crappy toys and collectables (i.e. "made in China" trinkets)!

Hey, I think you can get some action hero socks on sale for $5. 

The company makes nothing!

Their intellectual property is virtually nill!

Their assets are some leases in strip malls and shopping centers that have less and less traffic due to e-Commerce and Covid!

For those who drove the stock up from a year-low of $2.57 to a high this week of $483.98, congrats on showing that the market can be completely irrational and manipulated by the social media masses. 

Like right before the dot.com bubble of 2000, showoff your brokerage statements and brag about your beefy balances, I remember the local yocals from the barber shop doing the same back then--when everyone was a stock maven and becoming a multimillion from the likes of Pets.com.

But GameStop and AMC (another almost dead company unable to face Netflix, Amazon Prime movies, and all the other streaming plus Covid) are probably worth in concept less than good 'ol Pets.com or the Tulip Mania of the 17th century (at least flowers are beautiful). 

This will end in tears for the ever "greater fool" who's following the herd.  

Let's hope they and the spiraling, out of control national debt don't take down all of us with them!  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

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January 10, 2021

What's With This Crazy World?


I don't recognize this world. 

This world has gone to sleep. 

It's not the world of life I used to know. 

Now fear and isolation pervade about. 

Things aren't even what they seem or they seem to be what they aren't. 

Everything is glossed over and black and white are easily substituted. 

There used to be a moral ground and a forward path. 

Now you have to have a stronger faith and inner conviction than ever before. 

To see the light at the end of the tunnel and hope it's the light we all yearn for.  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)


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January 3, 2021

It's 9/11 Every Day in The U.S.


For the last 4 weeks now, we've had about 3,000 deaths a day from Coronavirus in the U.S., this number is eerily similar to the number of fatalities in the horrific terrorist attack on this country on 9/11.

Moreover, we have reached over 350,000 dead in less than a year, with the projection by April 1 to be 567,000 dead or another 217,000 gone in just the next 3 months!

Despite numerous pharmaceutical companies coming up with a Covid vaccine, the distribution here is being botched every day. 

In December, we vaccinated less than 1% of the U.S. population with a first dose, despite having been promised that 20 million people would be vaccinated, while another country like Israel has vaccinated 12% of their population.

So while we are experiencing the equivalent in terms of deaths of another 9/11 just about every day now, our government and their partners are pathetically slow in reacting to save lives!

  • The Federal government is punting to the state governments.
  • The State governments are punting to the local governments.
  • And the local governments are not sure what they are doing and there is inconsistency and conflicting, confusing guidelines in the system currently.

Recently, I contacted my local authorities and received a form email back that basically told me they still know virtually nothing:

"We are currently focused on the registration of vaccination sites, the distribution and administration of vaccines in Phase 1, storage and handling, and overall communications, including ensuring patient follow-up and second dose reminders. We expect additional updates on increased vaccine production in early 2021 from our federal partners. As we learn more from the federal government, we will adjust..."

I am appalled to see so many sick people and families and friends affected and people needlessly dying every minute of every day. 

I am wondering why there is not more of an uproar and outrage from the people (even as a new more contagious variant is spreading) or is a 9/11 every day now an acceptable casualty count?

I can virtually guarantee you that if/when this is done, there are going to be how many lawsuits, investigations, and commissions looking into how this got so mishandled and resulted in so much suffering and loss of life. 

(Credit Photo: Pixabay)


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January 2, 2021

Covid May Be Over When Pigs Can Fly


Don't be fooled by the Covid vaccines. 

Aside from the very disappointing and dysfunctional rollout so far (less than 3 millions first doses in the time that they promised 20 million), the virus is mutating!

Hence the new yet more contagious Covid virus now going around. 

I wouldn't get my hopes up too high on the results of the vaccine quite yet. 

Hype is the opioid of the masses. 

Like the flu, Covid may be over when pigs can fly.  ;-)

(Credit Photo:  Andy Blumenthal) 


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January 1, 2021

Horrors in U.S. Healthcare

 

So I have been sick the last 9 days, and don't really know what it is (bad cold, flu, or Covid). 

But I am hearing that Covid is spiraling around just about every family that I know now. 

The new most contagious Covid variant is in at least 3 states, but I would suspect it's in all of them by now.  We'll find that out way after the fact. 

G-d only knows whether the Covid vaccines will work on the mutated Coronavirus and how this will impact the runaway pandemic.  Will it be back to the Vaccine drawing board?

While many healthcare workers have been extraordinary during these difficult times, I've been appalled at some recent cases of horrible care. 

Example 1:

Went to CVS Minute Clinic, they gave me some antibiotics, but said go this afternoon for a Covid test, which I had already booked prior at another CVS location that does the tests.  

I drive 10 miles sick to go there, and when I arrive they tell me, they don't have my appointment anymore even though I show them "black and white" my confirmation!  "The system must've kicked you out because you were at another CVS earlier in the day." I said, I need to be tested, and they were adamant that there was nothing they could do.  Their completely incompetent store manager told me to call and make another appointment for another day.  I said, I waited two days for this appointment, drove ten miles, and waited a long time on line.  He said, that's too bad and I should call the 800 number if I wasn't happy. I said, it's your mistake, so you call the 800 number.  I told him I wasn't leaving the line until they resolved this. The manager was a rude SOB, but finally one of the pharmacists said the nurse can put me back in the system and they would in fact see me. 

Well, lo and behold, a day passes, and I get a call the test didn't work.  Make another appointment.  Ok, now I really have no choice.  I go to another CVS, this one was actually much better and gave comprehensive instructions on how to take the Covid test. So much for good CVS and bad CVS!  

Example 2:

Someone else in my family was sick and also goes to the CVS Minute Clinic.  They give her not much more than Tylenol.  But tell her to make another appointment to take care of her ear.  She makes an appointment, and I take her to yet another CVS location the next day.  Well guess what, the Physician's Assistant refuses to treat her ear.  He sits us down and tells us that he has a wife and kids at home and doesn't want to possibly get Covid since she was at the Minute Clinic the day before.  I explain that all they gave her was Tylenol.  He says, "Anything can be Covid!  And I'm not going to go in the room to clean out the ear for maybe 20 to 30 minutes."  Well then why in the hell did this guy go into the medical profession?

Example 3:

I contact another pharmaceutical outlook (not CVS) for a prescription.  They quote me $2,500 dollars.  I say "That's 10 tens what they usually charge me so there must be a typo."  Oh no, that's the price for the branded drug.  Maybe you meant the generic which is only $250!  Same drug but ten times the price!

I'm sorry folks our healthcare system in the U.S. is very broken indeed.  By calling attention to these things, I hope to bring positive change for all our sakes.  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)


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December 28, 2020

Vaccine: Too Little Too Late


So just about everyone I know now has Covid going all around them. 

Heard from 2  people in the last 2 days, and yet a 3rd person that died miserably from it this past week. 

Aside from almost 120,000 currently hospitalized, including 20,000 in the ICU, this thing is spinning rapidly out of control!

I am now convinced that by the time they get the vaccine out (and it's going awfully slowly so far), it will be too little too late and almost everyone will already have had Covid. 

Incredible how many billions of dollars have been spent on the vaccine research, manufacturing, and now on the distribution, and frankly it will have been another great big wasted boondoggle.

Vaccinate away...despite the valiant efforts by many, it's basically a throwaway for this round of the virus, and it all points to our woeful state of unpreparedness to begin with! ;-)

(Credit Photo: Pixabay)


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December 27, 2020

@Hagerstown Outlets


We went shopping today at the Hagerstown Outlets.

Two things struck me:

1) The deals on beautiful brand name clothing was unbelievable!

2) So many stores have closed during Covid; what a darn shame what's happened to our small businesses. 

Anyway, it's an adventure to go to the outlets, and hard not to spend when the deals are all around you. 

The best is to get gifts for the people you love!  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal, Not Hagerstown)


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December 21, 2020

A Perfect Biowarfare Attack!

**WARNING.  WARNING.  WARNING**

So how would you conduct a biowarfare attack?

You wouldn't want to release a full-scale deadly pathogen, because then you would endanger your own population as well as your adversary. 

But instead, you release a pathogen (like Coronavirus) that is just deadly and contagious enough to cause a worldwide panic, shutting down countries and economies and threatening to overwhelm hospitals and emergency responders.

Then you would watch patiently as vaccines are developed that everyone would need to get to resume their lives and jobs. Of course, the vaccines get rushed through development, approval, and distribution in order to calm the fearful and disenfranchised populace. 

And here is where you would have your adversaries by their you know what, because if your agents can then infiltrate the vulnerabilities of the overwhelmed and unprepared, civilian pharmaceutical companies, their supply chains, or distribution networks during the emergency, and contaminate the vaccines with a really lethal pathogen, you would ensure that all your adversaries are eliminated (from their leadership on down to the blue collar workers in society), while your own population (which wouldn't get those vaccines from abroad) would be absolutely fine. 

Maybe even the first dose is intentionally passed through okay to lull the population and its leadership into the trap, but then the follow-on doses are tainted once the flies are already in the spider's web. 

Your adversaries are now sick and/or dead, but their countries and infrastructure are fully functioning and in place for you to take as spoils. 

World domination, it can happen as plain and simple as this.

Look around you at what's happening in our times. Mad men or genius, but this is more than any science fiction could offer.  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Pixabay)


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November 19, 2020

Vaccine Fears

So I was talking with someone about the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines coming out to protect again Coronavirus. 

They tell me that the news is reporting 95% effectiveness and then they pull out their smartphone and show me a cartoon of someone taking the vaccine and their face is all deformed (I won't go into the details). 

So I ask him:

Are you going to talk the vaccine?

He says:

"No!"

I ask:

Do you take the flu vaccine?

Again he says :

No, it's poison!

He thinks some more and says (jokingly, I believe):

And if some big burly guys try to hold me down and make me take it, I'll tell them I'm gonna go out and get a gun and come back tomorrow and shoot them. 

Bottom line: there is some real fear and apprehension out there about these vaccines. 

And surely, some people do have negative effects--whatever that percentage is. 

Personally, I will take the vaccine. I would rather try and fail (hopefully not), than never try at all!  

How long the vaccine is effective for--that's another matter all together. ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)


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November 2, 2020

Election + Covid = Alcohol

Between this election and Coronavirus, how can any of us truly be feeling?

This old bottle of wine is looking mighty fine to me about now. 

Sometimes, we all need something for the pain!

And this election and the plague has been nothing but painful. 

The question is drink it now or hold it for tomorrow night. ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)


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October 28, 2020

Overwhelming Public Fatigue

China Fatigue

Covid Fatigue

Election Fatigue

Exaggerations Fatigue

Extremism Fatigue

Fear Fatigue

Facebook Waste of Time Fatigue

Lies and Corruption Fatigue

Media Manipulation Fatigue

Power Politics Fatigue

Racism and Hate Fatigue

Riots and Looting Fatigue

Fatigue Fatigue ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)


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October 15, 2020

Artsy Bike

This is an artistic bike in Washington, D.C. 

Like a newspaper, it's black and white and "read" or actually rode all over. 

How much time do you give a bike like this before it gets stolen on the streets downtown?

D.C. seems to be getting even worse than before, now with Coronavirus and the riots. 

Doesn't feel safe, and it's in definite need of an urban makeover from all the horrible poverty and homelessness.  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)


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October 9, 2020

@The Mariachi Brothers

The Mariachi Brothers came to Rockville, Maryland.

A nice Covid-19 cheer up today.

What a beautiful musical treat.  

Serenade me! ;-)

(Credit Video: Andy Blumenthal)

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August 28, 2020

Better Than Hand Sanitizer LOL

What a great way to fulfill Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Tier 3 for love and belonging. 

Just use this bottle of Social Belonging! 

Better than dish detergent or hand sanitizer.

Good for attaining love, friends, societal and other belonging needs. 

22 fluid ounces!

That's enough to get you through the Coronavirus quarantine's loneliness and then some.  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
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August 21, 2020

You Get Your Own Special Table

This was a funny sign on a table a good deal away from all the others in a restaurant.
Reserved for Mr. and Mrs. Social Distance. Thank You.  

Wow, for people that are rightfully worried about Coronavirus or maybe they're just hypochondriacs, there is a secluded table for you in the restaurant, so you can still go out and eat and enjoy yourselves. 

Mr. and Mrs. Social Distance, you are sitting far away but still part of the living, Halleluja!  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
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August 20, 2020

Man Lamp

Gotta love this man lamp!

Probably great for your man cave. 

It stands on 2 legs.

Its spine is the electrical cord running down the middle. 

And the lamp shade is the hat. 

Sort of design ingenious. 

And during Coronavirus quarantine, it makes you feel perhaps like you have a little extra companionship. 

Even if it's just a lamp!  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Facebook)
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