Corona Virus

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moonshadow
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Re: Corona Virus

Post by moonshadow »

Btw.... Virginia has had confirmed cases for a while now... WEST Virginia has none. There are no doubt cases, but due to the lack of test kits and the rural, isolated nature of the area, not to mention the utter poverty and lack of health care... those cases have not been located.
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The old hillbilly from the coal fields of the Appalachian mountains currently living like there's no tomorrow on the west coast.
kingfish
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Re: Corona Virus

Post by kingfish »

crfriend wrote: Tue Mar 17, 2020 12:48 am I really need to get my old one (a Tek 465) fixed. The problem is that I need a 'scope to fix my busted one, and I can't lift my 545A any longer... Where can one get stuff like this fixed?
Don't know the answer to that myself. I personally have a Tek 549 that hasn't been turned on for a couple decades and probably needs a through once-over before reapplying power. The one thing I have though is a service manual and it is the best pile of hardware documentation I have had the pleasure of looking at. Those guys were thorough. The schematics have notes on what good voltages are and even scope shots at strategic points!

The scope in the picture was actually borrowed from the office along with the syringe pump prototype it's hooked up to. The trace is the signal traffic on an internal RS-485 multi-drop bus.
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Sinned
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Re: Corona Virus

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Pelmut:
"In your case, self-isolation woud be a good idea. I imagine that being a diabetic and working in the food industry would qualify you for priority treatment once a vaccine becomes available."

I don't work in the food industry - household goods and furniture.

howardh:
"Just out of interest - and it would't stop Coronavirus anyway - do you take the annual flu jab to assist keeping that away?"

No I don't have the annual flu jab. It is offered to me every year as a member of an at risk group but I decline it. The reason is simple. Even though they say it's an inactive virus I get the flu symptoms - every time. Two weeks of sheer bedridden hell. Fever, aching joints, headaches - the lot. So I take my chances and maybe get the flu every so often but that is preferable to every year.

Update:
Yesterday mid-morning I went into work and had barely got me foot through the door before being pounced on by the Manager. It was OK with me as I was planning on a word myself. The gist is that as a 65 year old diabetic with elevated blood pressure I was identified as being in a high risk category. I agreed with that. So for the moment things will continue and, even though we had a couple of Chinese students at the University, as there are few reported cases in York my employment will continue. There may be fewer hours if the footfall and sales decrease but it will be system normal. If the number of cases rise I will be offered temporary isolation time [0] if I wish to take it for my own protection. I will not be forced to take it but I would be strongly advised to. But we are not at that stage yet. Members of my family are being assigned days to work from home but being in retail that is not open to me. Whole swathes are being closed down - entertainment, restaurants, pubs, sports and the effects are being felt in areas way beyond these. Scary!!!!

[0] At no pay, naturally. Ironically, if I contract the virus and are forced to self-isolate then I will get full pay for the 14 days. Crazy, huh! But financially I would be better off going to work, contracting the virus and self-isolating. Where's the logic in that?
I believe in offering every assistance short of actual help but then mainly just want to be left to be myself in all my difference and uniqueness.
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howardfh
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Re: Corona Virus

Post by howardfh »

Interesting that I've just had two e-mails r/e the UK "lockdown" from a couple of local pubs that I frequent saying they are still open (while it's advisory rather than compulsory to close) and please can I and the other regulars still turn up!

Think right now pubs and bars would greatly welcome anyone completely starkers, never mind in a skirt!!
partlyscot
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Re: Corona Virus

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Sinned wrote: Tue Mar 17, 2020 11:30 am

[0] At no pay, naturally. Ironically, if I contract the virus and are forced to self-isolate then I will get full pay for the 14 days. Crazy, huh! But financially I would be better off going to work, contracting the virus and self-isolating. Where's the logic in that?
Yeah, this is one thing that might apply to me, their was an announcement of 2 weeks paid leave on Friday, but so far no notification on whether it has been applied, or whether the company will get support for it. If no govt support, our company will probably not survive anyway.

The world is going to be looking very different in a month or so.
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moonshadow
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Re: Corona Virus

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partlyscot wrote: Tue Mar 17, 2020 4:00 pm The world is going to be looking very different in a month or so.
When we get through this...

Remember your local small businesses! They're getting hit the hardest, in my travels at work I have dealt with scores of mom and pops, and they're nervous as hell.

They are all cautiously optimistic.

I just completed a service call for a great little sandwich shop... they literally just opened 2 weeks ago, and their customers have all but dried up. They are optimistic, but I can hear the anxiety in their voices....
-Andrea
The old hillbilly from the coal fields of the Appalachian mountains currently living like there's no tomorrow on the west coast.
Gusto10
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Re: Corona Virus

Post by Gusto10 »

oldsalt1 wrote: Sun Mar 15, 2020 9:53 pm
beachlion wrote: Sun Mar 15, 2020 6:33 pm I updated my virus scanner with the latest set. By accident I spilled some wodka over the keyboard but that is a blessing in disguise. I will not send any virusses myself over the Internet. I feel quite confident I will weather the storm, even with the official approach to the problem.

All the time I was thinking alcohol is such a good product to sanitize. They should commandeer bars and add them to the health care system and not close them. ;)
This sounds like a good idea. One question will it cause a problem if when I go into the bar I order a Corona
and smoke one at the same time
6ft3Aussie
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Re: Corona Virus

Post by 6ft3Aussie »

A bit of fun with the current world issue.

We all need a laugh, not to belittle the gravity of the situation for some. Keep your head up and smile!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rhkg1ifnqa7qs ... s.mp3?dl=0
6ft3Aussie
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Re: Corona Virus

Post by 6ft3Aussie »


When we get through this...

Remember your local small businesses! They're getting hit the hardest, in my travels at work I have dealt with scores of mom and pops, and they're nervous as hell.

They are all cautiously optimistic.

I just completed a service call for a great little sandwich shop... they literally just opened 2 weeks ago, and their customers have all but dried up. They are optimistic, but I can hear the anxiety in their voices....
You're not wrong, our local coffee shop has told us that very few are coming in.
Hope our local bar is still busy and open....although that's getting a touch expensive.

Supermarkets on the other hand, are crazy, bedlam.
Last edited by Uncle Al on Wed Mar 18, 2020 5:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Fixed quoting format
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Sinned
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Re: Corona Virus

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Interesting. Completely on a spur of the moment I went out to a local restaurant for breakfast ~09:15 this morning. I was the only customer in the place and no-one else came in while I was there. I talked to the waitress and it appears that if things continue as quiet as it was this morning the restaurant may suspend breakfast sessions which means that she will not have a role as she only works mornings. I am at work early morning tomorrow but can repeat the exercise on Friday. Businesses, especially catering, need our support.

howardfh: If the place is open and you feel like attending then go by all means. At least you'll get good service.

MOH and I had a virus in mid-December whose symptoms were remarkably similar to COVID-19. Bad cough, temperature etc but with none of the other symptoms such as sneezing, aching joints. Also MOH NEVER, EVER, EVER gets a virus. I've known her for over 40 years and she's never had flu at all. I have. Several times and what we had in December wasn't a cold or flu but something else. Is it possible that we had the COVID-19 way back then. I know that the first major outbreak was in China but impossible for us, no?
I believe in offering every assistance short of actual help but then mainly just want to be left to be myself in all my difference and uniqueness.
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Re: Corona Virus

Post by Big and Bashful »

6ft3Aussie wrote: Wed Mar 18, 2020 4:34 am A bit of fun with the current world issue.

We all need a laugh, not to belittle the gravity of the situation for some. Keep your head up and smile!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rhkg1ifnqa7qs ... s.mp3?dl=0
Excellent! Mind if I post it to Facebook?
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crfriend
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Re: Corona Virus

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6ft3Aussie wrote: Wed Mar 18, 2020 4:34 amA bit of fun with the current world issue.

We all need a laugh, not to belittle the gravity of the situation for some. Keep your head up and smile!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rhkg1ifnqa7qs ... s.mp3?dl=0
Oh, that is bloody brilliant! A much-needed laugh in a stream of sewage.

I've got a wise-guy friend who insists on calling it the "coroner virus", and he may be close, but not for the reasons he envisions. Restaurants and bars are closed, with my local being one of the victims. What I term "the small economy" (mom-and-pop stores, family-run restaurants, in general -- non-chain enterprises) was already in a free-fall and this will just accelerate it because there is no safety-net any longer. I wonder if the places that I frequent will ever re-open, or if they do, what the dynamic will be like.

I mentioned to a couple of my social acquaintances at my local, on its last day of being open, that I felt "like I'd been sent home to die" or watch the world do so around me.

So now I'm shut off from the usual social world(s) in inhabit. The only interaction I really get now is via Corporate e-mail (usually stressing how dire things are and not to answer suspicious e-mail, which much of what issues from Corporate is), all-too-frequent "meetings-by-phone" that provide enough distraction so hard problems can't get solved, and demands that I open up to even more interrupt-streams, including a demand that I build myself a Winwoes-10 machine so I can have Mickeysoft "Teams" as yet another interrupt vector. (I've wasted a good eight hours on that notion in the past two days whilst trying to actually do my job.) Yesterday was a 14-hour day: 05:00 to 19:00. At this rate burn-out will kill me before any virus. (Unless it's Corporate Virus, that is)

Foo!
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crfriend
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Re: Corona Virus

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General sarcasm and dire economic predictions aside, here's an interesting look at the current notion of "flattening the curve" and how to spread the damage out over time so the overall impact is diminished, at least from a critical health-care point of view: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics ... e=hs_email

Their model has some problems. One is that transmission is guaranteed from casual contact (transmission is never 100%), and another is that the current thing that's staring at us can kill who it infects, although at the moment it looks like those are a minority of the population. Note that I am not saying that won't be sad to lose grandma or grandpa to it, or some children -- far from; that will absolutely suck for all involved. However, from a population point of view, we ought to be alright. The key is damping the demand for intensive medical care for huge swathes of the population all at once.

Flattening this out is especially important in countries with underdeveloped, ineffective, or inaccessible health care.
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moonshadow
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Re: Corona Virus

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Well, as one of the few left in the world that's still facing the world at large day by day, running up and down the interstates, tinkering with the fryers and mixers and ovens, I can tell you that the wage earners are EAGER to get back to work, and those who are still working are working desperately to stay employed, and the managers and employers are working tirelessly to keep those employees employed.

Believe it or not, we're optimistic.

Once again people are pulling together.

As I put the finishing touches on a mixer clutch repair at a locally owned doughnut manufacturer, it pleased me to see hundreds of doughnuts coming off their line and their large stacks of finished product going out on the truck.

The owner and I shot the bull for a few minutes and all we really talked about was some future projects he wanted me to check on...

The show goes on...
-Andrea
The old hillbilly from the coal fields of the Appalachian mountains currently living like there's no tomorrow on the west coast.
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crfriend
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Re: Corona Virus

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moonshadow wrote: Wed Mar 18, 2020 11:01 pmBelieve it or not, we're optimistic.

Once again people are pulling together.
This is good to know. It gives one hope.
As I put the finishing touches on a mixer clutch repair at a locally owned doughnut manufacturer, it pleased me to see hundreds of doughnuts coming off their line and their large stacks of finished product going out on the truck.

The owner and I shot the bull for a few minutes and all we really talked about was some future projects he wanted me to check on...
You are one lucky man. You have customers who know, trust, and appreciate you. Relish that! Simply because it's so rare in the Corporate world.

I had that back in the 1980s, and what a heady time it was. You always walk in when it's darkest for the customer, and when you leave you're always the hero because there's light again. That's heady stuff, and stuff it miss dearly now that I'm so enmeshed in deeply-dysfunctional Corporate regimes that have no clue about anything they're doing.

You're lucky in that the tech you work with isn't going to move anywhere near as fast as computers did. Belts and gears will be with us likely until we no longer have a need for rotating components.

(What are the credentials for entry into the field? Even as an old fart, or, perhaps especially so, I'd be interested in reliving some of "the old times". 'Cause I can still fix most anything.)
Retrocomputing -- It's not just a job, it's an adventure!
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