"Set phasers to 'half stun'"

b1-66er: I've been playing around quite a bit with power levels on the microwave the last couple weeks

(I'd guess most people probably don't even know they even have it)

Essentially you can run a microwave on levels 1-10...

By default the run 10...

So if you pick 5 that's half power...

But the way it works is by turning the magnetron on, then off...

Repeat repeat repeat for 4 minutes...

So something like 'on' for 15 seconds, 'off' for 15 seconds...

Do you think that's easier, worse or the same to overall microwave "health?"...

(I'm absolutely convinced food cooks better this way

... probably due to "resting"/"imbuing" the thermal transfer event.)

b1-67er (C.P.E.): Almost certainly harder on the microwave.  I bet you get better heat distribution in your food though.

66: Yes. 

Thanks. 

I'm not sure I'll quit doing it. 

I think I'm willing to sacrifice a third of a microwave for it. 

67: Four things kill electronics: moisture, heat, vibration, and power surges.

66: Good list. 

I wonder why they built it in in the first place. 

67: I think I'm right...but if any key microwave parts get hot, you might give them longer life.

66: I'm the only person I've ever heard of who's played around with it. 

67: Defrost works that way, so really an easy option for the manufacturer to provide. 

Riding the semi-sane caboose

b1-66er: As hard hitting as metal writing ever gets...

"In the comments of the post, while some fans say Ozzy Osbourne is one of the greatest musicians in heavy metal, they added that they wanted to see him long times. On the other hand, many fans disagreed with them."

Special K: Hahahahaha

"Now I'll have another joint."

Put the Airlines after the West which is also after the South

Suttonhoo: SW is rescheduling upcoming flights as a habit -- in awkward ways. My four hour direct flight from MDW to SEA was rerouted through LAS with a three hour layover

b1-66er: Empty plane problems?

Why do you need to go from point A to point B?

S: I don't. I cancelled. It was a leftover flight from before.

b1: Great accidental discovery!

Saguaro view

The accomplice:

The spitting comet of doom!

b1-66er: "Scientists Note Asteroid Approaching Earth Looks Like It's Wearing A Face Mask"

b1-67er: That can't be a good sign.

It's the missing data that kill

b1-66er: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/04/we-still-dont-know-how-the-coronavirus-is-killing-us.html

DENT: This definitely a crazy and frightening disease.  I haven't seen much first hand, but following it closely since the info is coming out so fast on line. 

I really do expect that another surge is unavoidable. I just hope they figure out the actual causes for the mortality sooner than later. 

b1: Yes. 

How's your immediate world?

D: We are hanging out and so far tolerating the lockdown pretty well. There are six of us home. My daughter, Finial, is a new architect in San Francisco. She has been here <CO> since mid March working online. Hunkster is a senior at Notre Dame and is also taking classes on line. Graduation has been cancelled. I have been working 1/3 time. We will be increasing that this week and starting elective surgeries next week. We are playing this by ear. No pun intended. 

b1: Not the first time you've used that line. 

D: 'Playing it by nose' doesn't have the same ring. 

b1: Har. 

AlfSpeak

<all via b1-66er>

Alf: The game of Skleen Ball is very simple. You sling your can of anchovies into the opponent's laundry basket. 

Son: Can you eat the anchovies afterward?

Alf: NO! Does Marvin Hagler eat his trunks after a match?

Daughter: Mom,  why is there nothing to drink in this house except Perrier?

Mom: Alf gets it at cost from the French Embassy. 

Alf to cat in fake British accent: One minute to go, Luck-Meister, then I'll be down on you like a buzzard on a meat wagon. 

Intern Sleep

Special K: My thoughts on Doctor Sleep: nobody should ever make a sequel of a Kubrick film.

1/2 His movies were something else, the sequels are always gonna suffer by comparison. Doc Sleep was meandering and not compelling to me. A decent standalone

2/2  horror movie, no good in The Shining universe.

b1-66er: I agree. 

Does it get ANY points for being written by Mr. King?

K: I think so, it makes it an entertaining horror movie.

b1: Oh. Kay.

NOW how do you feel about Peeps Soup?

Special K: I liked this one. https://twitter.com/nbcsnl/status/1254474184811524097?s=20

b1-66er: I'm laughing to absolute tears. 

Half a twin birthday

Former Flyer: Look at this cake that Maya's partner (12 years old) made for their birthday. Homemade macaroons too!!

b1-66er: Super super great. 

THAT'S a happy birthday. 

Just before the virus...

D4rw1n: still life with plums. COVID version 

A-day!

Special K: <@00:01> A hopeful Aspiration Day to you.

b1-66er: Here's to wishing!

You're the A-day greeting champion!

K: Proud to be.

b1: How do you plan to commemorate the day?

K: Review last year's aspirations and consider this year's. Work on fixing bugs for work. Work on a jigsaw puzzle. Enjoy leftovers for lunch, and the "Best Ever Beef Stew" recipe for dinner. Stay up late watching The Shining + old TV on channel 68.

b1: Make enough stew tonight for leftovers tomorrow. I'm interested to hear how it is. 

Do you think the pandemic makes A-day better, worse or has no effect?

K: Better, because it makes us more thoughtful, and that's important today.

b1: I actually agree with that 100%.

"Mindfulness" is an A-Day transport mechanism. 

K: Yes.

Black mirror

Special K: https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/23/us/100-year-old-covid-19-victim-twin-brother-flu-pandemic/index.html

100-year-old World War II veteran died of Covid-19. His twin brother died 100 years earlier in the flu pandemic - CNN

Alftastic

b1-66er: Alf: Sorry, but I began to panic when I missed 'Gumby.'

Alf: I assume you have no plans to fix the TV. 

Dad: no immediate plans. 

A: fine! I'll leave it tuned to Oral Roberts and see if it will heal itself!

Mom: Alf, I already said you can use the portable TV in the bedroom. 

Alf: it's too small! It makes everyone lon like Danny Devito.

 Bob Newhart's secretary is Alf's son's principal. 

Hair of the cat

Former Flyer: <dog pic>

b1-66er: The look of the world. 

FF : <cat pic>

This is how everyone looks right about now :)

b1: To be honest, in this situation, I think of you as being more cat than dog like. 

Better get the alsatians

b1-66er: https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/20/politics/georgia-brian-kemp-reopen-businesses-coronavirus/index.html

Special K: Will this act like a control group?

b1: No. 

It will act as the out of control group.

BlackBerry Beret: Hillbillies are not science based

Tweaker

DENT: <pic attached>

Btw, the article you sent before help me develop our way of sanitizing the n95 masks in our office. I fashioned an insulated cooler with a sous vide device to heat the masks to 65C. I call it the Maskerbaker. 😆. 

The Actore: Nice!!! 

b1-67er: Most common elastic materials are ok up to at least 180F, so probably ok.  A lot better than than UV light which kills bacteria, viruses, and plastics with equal ease.  Pretty neat and practical.

TA: <stuff elided>...my oven goes only down to 17O F. I wonder if I keep it there for a half an hour if the plastic and rubber will be OK?

67: The valves look vacuum formed, which is usually done around 400 degrees.  If you can get 170 the mask has a decent chance of surviving I think. 

The 68th configuration

Special K: I'm rewatching this, have you seen it?

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0081237/

b1-66er: I have not. 

Rated 4.6 by critics, 7.0 by IMDbers!

K: It's unique, very eccentric. I like it. Directed by W. P. Blatty (writer of The Exorcist), his first time directing.

b1: Whoa. 

K: He was test screening it in Denver in 1980, showed it to Barbara's film class at DU, they gave him feedback.

b1: AND THAT'S WHEN YOU FELL IN LOVE!

K: That was 4 years earlier.

b1: AND THAT'S WHEN YOU ASKED HER TO LOAN YOU 20 BUCKS!

K: Yes!

(She said no.)

b1: You thought: I'll get it one way or the other.

You said: Will you marry me?

K: It's like you know the history.

"One World Together at Home" Tomorrow

Special K: Big big concert tomorrow. "The Live Aid of Cv". https://youtu.be/02yZJDuh8tY

Who shook that damn thing?

The dear hunter <Detroit,  MI>:

Snow globe weather.

Quien es numero one?

b1-67er: I'm watching a Frito Lay commercial talking about creating 3000 new jobs. Then they show two guys standing one foot apart in a warehouse. You can see their breath because it's cold. Not the best coronavirus image.

b1-66er: You got that right. 

They should've just have had the Frito Bandito say, "¡Fuck that fieldwork, señor! ¡Eet's time to shelter in place! ¡A la Casa de Fritos!"

67: ¿Como te gusta el pared ahora?

66: ¡Muy bueno!

Priceless Leia meets a Blues Brother and a jerk

Special K: I haven't watched this but plan to. It's only 20 minutes.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/16/21223717/blade-runner-the-lost-cut-leon-chase-mashup-film-cast

<50 minutes passes>

I just watched that Blade Runner video and it's brilliant. Feels a little like The Clock.

<13 hours pass>

b1-66er: Just watched the blade runner mash up. Interesting. Thanks for sending it. 

K: Did it remind you of The Clock at all?

b1: Not really. Too overall thematic. 

I see why you say that, though.

K: Specifically, the scenes where characters from one movie hear things from another.

b1: I have certain expectations from experimental film. 

Yours either doesn't meet them at all, or overwhelms them.

In either case, it doesn't qualify. 

He's interplaying characters. 

It's both the genius of the clip ...

... and the cheat. 

He's gotta be about our age. 

K: I'd guess so. 

Proposed COVID "reopening guidelines" PDF...

... from the country that's #1 with cases!

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-announce-guidelines-reopening-u-s-amid-coronavirus-pandemic-n1185666

(There's a PDF embedded in that article... click-through to read it. )

The radula of an ark

Special K: "SilkyMilk believes it her highest honor is to reflect those same fantasies as sympathetically and soberly as possible; to truly embody a character, even as that character prepares to fuck a giant squid."

b1-66er: It's hard to argue with that. 

K: I wouldn't.

You aren't what you think

Special K: "By next week they'll have enough test kits to check every UCSF patient for #coronavirus. Until now, they were just testing those with  symptoms. And only 4% of those tested positive. 19 out of 20 who thought they had #COVID19, didn't."

How about when you, "need to go home now?"

Special K: One of the weirdest things about this staying at home business is that it doesn't feel all that weird.

b1-66er: That'll be important in the long(er) run. 

Let in the vat

b1-66er: "Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department dissolves mounted patrol unit"

Special K: That's a lot of acid. 🥁 

You dirty bastinado

Special K: "Two groups of governors, one on the East Coast and one on the West

 Coast, announced Monday that they were forming regional working groups to help plan when it would be safe to begin to ease coronavirus-related restrictions to reopen their economies."

b1-66er: Lord grant me the patience. 

K: You are religious.

It's in the hole!

b1-66er: <April 10 21:15PT> How goes the battle?

DENT: <April 11 17:20 MT I am holed up pretty much like everyone else. Our elective surgery list has been cancelled/postponed. I am seeing 50% the number of patients in the clinic and half of those are telemedicine¹. Life is pretty slow right now. Easter without church. Very strange. 

b1: That's actually the best news I could get from you. 

Thanks for responding. 

D: We just got off the golf course, actually. It is free. First come first served. We have golfed 4 times in the past 5 days. 

b1: Gotta keep in the swing. 

D: Right. I am glad I don't have to make a living playing golf. I would starve. 

b1: Let's hope you don't find out.

I assume the Mayo didn't have a golf minor. They just assume you'll "pursue" it in your glorious wealth. 

D: Golf is not my thing. Too time consuming and not much to show for it afterward.

b1: Except that burnished inner glow of not having to throw a frisbee in front of Baker Hall instead. 

D: So, one of the proudest moments of my life was when my daughter, E-1, joined the Notre Dame Ultimate team. 😁

¹ Ooooh, I guess the fricken Mayo Clinic specialist has a slightly different opinion on telemedicine when it's done by someone lesser degreed and HE'S NOT DEPENDENT ON IT. 

The feckly grail

Special K: Found this in the garage today. 

Cover the square

Special K: "Czech nudists told to wear face masks by police"

Better get the Tavor

Special K: Grocery pickup is done. 

b1-66er: How crowded?

How many mask wearers. 

K: I did curbside, didn't go in. I saw 3 or 4 people, mostly masked. Seemed uncrowded inside from what I could tell.

b1: Good. 

K: Yes.

Similar percentage of masked on most of my recent curbside pickup visits.

b1: Good.

How much of your grocery order were you able to get filled?

K: 5/5 items (one was a brand substitution).

b1: Back line winner. 

What was the sub?

K: We only had 5 items because a slot came open unexpectedly between our usual orders, so it was a supplemental order. We have another one coming up on Tue.

Spread (aka fake butter). We eat a lot during Passover.

b1: What was subbed for what?

Do you only eat pareve at passover?

K: We ordered our usual brand (Smart Balance spread with canola oil), 

and we got a brand whose name I don't recall (One World or something?), I don't think it's the canola variant…

b1: Ah.

K: No, our Passover is essentially no bread, no risen grains, everything else is OK.

b1: I see. 

K: "any food product made from wheat, barley, rye, oats or spelt that has come into contact with water and been allowed to ferment and rise is not allowed to be consumed."

b1: It's not so much "passover" as it is "driveby."

K: HAHAHAHAHAHA. It is. Growing up, we did more.

Used different dishes and cupboards, put boards in the sinks to make them "different". Didn't use regular foods, bought special kosher  for Passover versions of everyday stuff.

... and if you'd like something to drink, the bathroom's just down the aisle...

b1-66er: I think this is more right than it is wrong.

https://www.wired.com/story/bidens-path-to-victory-does-not-bode-well-for-voters/

Special K: I can't believe our election comes down to those two guys. 

b1: You and me, both pal. 

Biden is not the guy I want to turn to in a crisis...

It was his personal crisis that kept him from running 4 years ago...

AND he implied Obama was going to be assassinated when he was VP.

He's only 2 things: unimaginable and crusty. 

K: "I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. 'Can I interest you in the chicken?' she asks. 'Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?'

To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked."

KS my ass

Special K: "Kansas Republican leaders revoke Gov. Laura Kelly's executive order limiting church gatherings to 10 people."

b1-66er: I guess they want "Kansas first. "

"If the subject's having difficulty breathing, loosen the waistband."

The Actore: Innovative mask design:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Uob0AuMZynY

b1-66er:

Them- Your brother died!?

Me- Yes. 

T- Coronavirus?

M- Not exactly. Complications. 

***

The Former Flyer: Too funny!!

b1-66er: "You girls are old enough to dress like this now. "

FF: No the fucking are not!!

<ed: Inspired by his Situational Leadership Class taken at AAPL --as well as his time at their UK subsidiary-- b1 realized his best strategy to lessen the emotional nature of the conversation was to acknowledge the stress, making it a point to speak in the native (no matter how awkwardly) dialect. >

b1: No the fucking I apologize. 

FF: I can't even type I am laughing too hard!!

b1: It's a pavlovian response. 

You see a thong on someone's face and you say,  "no, the fucking."

I see it and say,  "yes, the fucking."

That's why we get along. 

FF: I can't even breathe! That's so funny!!

<ed: proving, once again, that your mom was right relative to these Cv times

1. Don't mess with a pangolin. Especially around your bats. 

2. A single thong CAN lead to multiple fatalities.

3. If AAPL offers you a class,  take it. Applications of what you learn may crop up in unusual venues and situations...far beyond the workplace. 

4. In modern CPR, mouth-to-mouth isn't as important as chest compressions.>

Sweeps Takes

Special K: I'm good today. Gonna go do some garage cleanup.

The Grumbler sez this would be worth US $20M today. 

b1-66er: Brill.

K: I never vested the last quarter. I was gone to General Magic.

b1: Son of my bitch. 

K: Doesn't matter. It's as gone gone gone as the rest of it.

b1: Son of your bitch. 

K: EXACTLY.

And then a space ship comes down and then these aliens that look like frying pans start moving across...

Special K: 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/04/world/europe/italy-coronavirus-antibodies.html

b1-66er:

Absolutely astounding. 

Probably the most amazing "state of the world" piece I've ever read. 

Survey says!

Special K: "Trump says U.S. election will take place on schedule in November."

b1-66er: But the K sez------

K: Exactly.

b1: Well played. 

Worth the weight

Special K: For those who are overeating.

Free shipping, experiences extra

b1-66er: The New York Times: Relationships Move Fast on a Slow Cargo Ship.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/03/style/modern-love-coronavirus-isolation-cargo-ship.html

Special K: Momma K nd her family once cruised to South America on a freighter.

b1: Hey cool. 

What gave them that idea?

What'd it cost?

How'd they like it?

Was there anything wacky that happened?

K: Dunno where the idea came from. Maybe from a book about it? I think

 it's around here…

It was substantially cheaper than a cruise ship, but dunno how much. B was very young. They loved it. Only 100 passengers, great food, good entertainment.

When they crossed the equator, they hazed everybody.

b1: Super great. 

Time to turn the board and paddle like hell

b1-66er: https://www.npr.org/2020/04/02/825200206/doctors-say-hospitals-are-stopping-them-from-wearing-masks

DENT: That's crazy and ridiculous. I could see rationing masks and saying you have to make these masks last all month. Use them as you see fit, but one person

 can't hog all the masks. We are using each n95 mask for 5 days. I am working on a ridiculously simple process to disinfect them. 

b1: I'm losing track of time. Are you back working now? How was you week of respite?

DENT: 1/3 I am back at the office. My clinic load is down at least 50% and all of the elective surgeries (which is nearly all of them) have been cancelled or rescheduled. The week off was good. Kind of a forced time out. I made French bread. The key is to add extra gluten and then spray the loaves with water as they bake. 

Almost all of my time on my week off was watching the latest news and info on the coronavirus, of course. It is pretty much all consuming. 

b1: Yes. I'm glad you were able to grab some sense if normalcy. 

Everything to now has been softening fire. 

DENT: It is going to get really ugly in the next 10 days or so. Doubling time is still 3 days. We will have 10x the cases in 2 weeks. The administration's estimate of 100,000-200,000 deaths is off by a factor of 10 at least. If 50% of the US population gets this (150 M) and you even use a very conservative mortality 

rate of 1% you get 1.5M. The current death rate is 5% of those tested. Italy's death rate is 11%. 

b1: Keep your viral pathways closed, my friend. 

Good luck. 

Remember those things called, "letters?"

Special K: Momma K found my letters to her in college. One year. 

b1-66er: So good. 

Marry that woman. 

You worked harder writing her than you did in school...

And to better reward. 

K: Marriage and life? More than I could imagine. Super lucky. 

By far. 

b1: Great answer. 

Great life. 

Wait...*I* know how to get a raise...

b1-66er/Special K: The produce that isn't America. 

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/01/business/food-supply-chains-coronavirus/index.html

b1-67er (PE specializing in agricultural equipment -- has shipped equipment to Africa and others): They should be able to manage the shipboard freight somehow by keeping the boat people on the boat.  But airplanes and perishable stuff is harder.  I predict people who have the coronavirus antibodies will become premium pay workers for a while.

Photographic history details of KTXT...

...both the Dear Hunter and DENT are in this pic.