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Home » Do as I say, not as I do

Do as I say, not as I do

The New Neo Posted on by

Did you ever try to not think of a zebra?

Sure enough, you think of a zebra.

And these people cannot not do the thing they’re trying to not do:

Which brings us to more humor, this time intentional (hat tip: Gerard Vanderleun at American Digest):

[ADDENDUM: And speaking of humor, I love love LOVE Ammo Grrrll.]

Comments

Do as I say, not as I do — 26 Comments

  1. I sure hope I’m right but hasn’t it been two weeks, or close to it, since the panic set in? Now with all of the testing we are just up to 1832 cases out of a population of 330 million? Furthermore if the residents of the care facility in Washington state had not run into bad luck early on the number of U.S. deaths would be about 10 today. I don’t want to count my chickens before they hatch but are we looking at a dud? (Condolences to the families of the deceased.)

  2. The fat lady with blue nail polish is positively brilliant! And Southern, fo’ sho’!

  3. Brian Morgan:

    Possibly, but it’s one of those “time will tell” things. It’s still early.

    But I agree about the present statistics in this country.

    Someone was also pointing out somewhere in a comment that many many nursing home residents have “do not resuscitate” orders. Was that one of the reasons so very many died in that nursing home, once the virus took hold there?

  4. Isn’t it possible that the good people of America have been monitoring the situation in China and Europe for all of these weeks, and then when it arrived on our shores we were emotionally and physically prepared for it so as to make good decisions to protect ourselves? Sure there will be some idiots but overall we have responded admirably. It is the media who have gone off the rails. Why do they hold us in such contempt? I haven’t seen any evidence that they are any better?

  5. Neo, great point about the DNR’s. I should have known that since my wife worked in nursing homes most of her life.

  7. China just keeps digging a deeper hole and stepping in it. Soon there will be zero U.S. investment in Chinese manufacturing.

  8. Neo, DNRs are appropriate in nursing homes, because none have staff capabilities/equipment to resuscitate.

    Cardiac arrest recovery rates in max. resuscitation settings, e.g. hospital ICUs, yield a 30 day survival less than 30% in the elderly.

    I believe the WA corona-infected nursing home patients were loaded onto ambulances and died in hospital.

    One goes to a nursing home to die, not to stay the hand of death.

  9. “Soon there will be zero U.S. investment in Chinese manufacturing”

    Trump works in mysterious ways.

  10. Neo, “Ammo Grrrll” is hysterical. Unfortunately I write like a programmer. English is not one of my strengths.

  11. That’s a good one from Ammo Grrrll! We’re set here to last about four weeks, and we don’t mind frozen vegetables. And heck, who needs vegetables anyhow? We have vitamin pills, right?

  13. Thanks for the laugh & I sent the link to the touch your face video to friends.

    Laughter is the best medicine!

  14. I made a run to the store today for fresh food, and whatever looked handy.
    Toilet paper is totally absent (I already had my say on that), and Lysol spray, hand sanitizer, bleach, etc.
    There were a few things that were not gone yet, surprisingly: the “dehydrated” bleach tablets (I had a good stock of those already), laundry aids that have sanitizing agents, antibacterial dish soap, and mouthwash with alcohol (for DIY hand cleaner, but also some gargling when needed).

    Nobody seemed to be over-hoarding (like Ammo’s hippie with the 12 gallons of milk!!), and a few people stood in long lines for only a few purchases — I figure if the wait alone is as long as it takes for my normal visit, I’m filling the cart with something.
    So glad I am no longer in the market for diapers and formula!

    Fun fact: I first swung by our Ace Hardware that’s in the same plaza as the grocer, and they had oodles of TP for sale, not even marked up too much.
    They also sell cleaning supplies.
    Just got an email from OfficeDepot apologizing for low stock on those kinds of items at their stores, and promising resupply as soon as possible.

    Denver now has a drive-by COVID testing station, but you have to have a note from your doctor and sit in your car in line nearly an hour.
    Our favorite theatrical venue, Newman Center at the University, just sent a notice that their events through the end of April are cancelled.

    And our LDS church meetings have been suspended until further notice. I suspect that’s driven more by concern for the congregations in the European and Asian districts, but, as everyone is saying, better safe than sorry.
    It’s all very well to claim that we are panicking and closing down too many things, but remember that the spread is exponential, and you don’t know when the tipping point is going to be reached, or where.

  15. Neo, thank you so much!

    With all the frantic frenzy with everyone going batsh&t crazy, that second video was the greatest!

    thank you for posting it.

  16. Neo-
    I have enjoyed Ammo Grrll for a long time, and have all of her books, I think. She is published every Friday with
    a column at http://www.powerlineblog.com for those who want more of her excellent and sensible inputs.
    Richard

  17. I browsed through the comments at Ammo Grrrl’s post, and picked up a few interesting things.
    A reminder that this isn’t the first time we had issues with the Chinese Pharma supply chain — hmmm, I wonder who was president in 2008 and didn’t completely resolve this problem of dependence on foreign suppliers, although I do think that particular bad drug was addressed. (NOTE – yes, I know there are some problems even with US manufacturers, but we don’t have to go through another country’s government to take care of them.)

    https://www.sfgate.com/health/article/Chinese-contaminant-tied-to-fatal-drug-reactions-3217236.php

    That led to this current article, with some possibly more current info and recommendations.
    https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Study-suggests-coronavirus-is-highly-contagious-15127538.php

    Study shows how easily coronavirus can potentially spread
    By Madeline Wells, SFGATE Published 3:31 pm PDT, Thursday, March 12, 2020

    According to a virologic study by researchers in Germany, COVID-19 can be spread before it causes symptoms and for as many as 12 days after recovery. The study of nine infected patients at a Munich hospital that was published Monday has not yet been peer-reviewed.

    In comparison to findings from the 2003 outbreak of SARS, the novel coronavirus began producing high viral loads — a term used to describe the quantity of virus in a given volume — more quickly.

    “In SARS, it took 7 to 10 days after onset until peak RNA concentrations (of up to 5×105 copies per swab) were reached,” the researchers wrote. “In the present study, peak concentrations were reached before day 5, and were more than 1,000 times higher.”

    This makes the novel coronavirus far harder to contain. SARS was contained after about 8,000 cases — we’ve already seen the novel coronavirus exceed that by far worldwide.

    The study also showed very high viral shedding — meaning people are very contagious — during the first week of symptoms. This could mean very high transmission of the virus before those infected show any clinical symptoms at all, or when they are only beginning to experience very mild symptoms and are still going about their daily routines, according to Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy.

    This may help explain how quickly the virus has spread around the world.

    However, the study also suggests that those with mild infections are likely not still infectious by about 10 days after symptoms begin, even if they can still test positive for the virus for days or weeks after symptoms subside. This could mean changes in how long hospitals are advised to wait before discharging COVID-19 patients.

  18. This one studies the phenomenon in Neo’s video – which was a hoot, and shows just how automatic and unnoticed our somatic reflexes are.

    https://www.sfgate.com/science/article/How-long-coronavirus-lasts-on-hard-surfaces-15118173.php

    The easiest way for the novel coronavirus to spread is by airborne droplet from an infected person’s coughs or sneezes.

    But you can also get the virus if you touch a surface or object that has microbes on it and then touch your nose, mouth or eyes. According to a study published last week in the Journal of Hospital Infection, university students touched their face 23 times per hour, with 56% of the contact with skin, 36% with the mouth, 31% nose and 31% eyes.

    As data is still being collected on SARS-CoV-2 (the novel coronavirus), the study examined the lifespan of the similar SARS coronavirus on various inanimate surfaces.
    At a temperature of 68 degrees, SARS lasted:

    —Less than 8 hours on latex
    —2 to 8 hours on aluminum
    —2 days on steel
    —4 days on wood
    —4 days on glass
    —5 days on metal
    —5 days on ceramics
    —5 days on plastics (but one strain survived up to 9 days on plastic)
    Those findings likely also apply to SARS-CoV-2, Rachel Graham, an epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina, told Business Insider.

    In general, nonporous surfaces like doorknobs, desktops and airplane seat trays tend to transmit viruses better than porous surfaces such as paper money, human hair, rug pile and fabrics. The microscopic holes or spaces in porous surfaces can trap the microbes, preventing them from being transferred.

    One surface touched by people all the time is a great place for germs to hang out — their cellphone. The glass and metal surface of a cellphone often harbors contagions, especially on phones that are carried into the bathroom. University of Arizona researchers found cell phones carry 10 times more bacteria than most toilet seats.

    The easiest way to kill coronaviruses like SARS-CoV-2, according to the study, is the most obvious — with a disinfectant. Solutions containing 62% to 71% ethanol alcohol, 0.5% hydrogen peroxide or 0.1% sodium hypochlorite will do the trick within a minute.

    Wiping down a desk with hand sanitizer won’t kill the virus because the alcohol content is not high enough.

    Sodium hypochlorite is household bleach.
    Use a bleach-impregnated cleaning tissue on your desk, such as is made by Clorox and comes in a plastic “bottle.”

    IIRC, some other reports are that the new virus does stay active in fabrics, but that’s a matter of viability rather than ease of transmission.

  21. And about saving the planet by replacing grocery store plastic bags with the reusable ones: the planet will be alive, but you won’t.

    https://www.city-journal.org/banning-single-use-plastic-bags-covid-19

    The COVID-19 outbreak is giving new meaning to those “sustainable” shopping bags that politicians and environmentalists have been so eager to impose on the public. These reusable tote bags can sustain the COVID-19 and flu viruses—and spread the viruses throughout the store.

    Researchers have been warning for years about the risks of these bags spreading deadly viral and bacterial diseases, but public officials have ignored their concerns, determined to eliminate single-use bags and other plastic products despite their obvious advantages in reducing the spread of pathogens. …
    John Flanagan, the Republican leader of the New York State Senate, has criticized the new legislation and called for a suspension of the law banning plastic bags. “Senate Democrats’ desperate need to be green is unclean during the coronavirus outbreak,” he said Tuesday, but so far he’s been a lonely voice among public officials.

    The COVID-19 virus is just one of many pathogens that shoppers can spread unless they wash the bags regularly, which few people bother to do. Viruses and bacteria can survive in the tote bags up to nine days, according to one study of coronaviruses.

  23. I touched my face, scratched my nose, rubbed my eye, put on lipstick, blended it with my finger, all while watching that video. I also took money from my pocket, money the cashier gave my after my buying the case of wine to help me survive the social distancing I will be practicing with vigor. Going back tomorrow for gin in case the wine doesn’t do the trick.

  24. This seems an appropriate commentary on several recent posts, because it covers the CDC, Obama’s handling of his health crises, the Democrats in general, and the media – and doesn’t reflect well on any of them.
    Doc Zero of course (he’s been my go-to essayist since around 2008).

    https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1238488629552525313.html

    …Lord knows there will be plenty of hindsight and blame-spreading when this is all over, but from where we stand now, it seems odd to insist the president would have needed to specifically instruct CDC to get ready for the coronavirus.
    It’s their JOB, isn’t it? Theoretically their top priority?     Global news began buzzing with dreadful accounts of the highly infectious Wuhan virus in December, but CDC was waiting for Trump to tell it to start getting tests and supplies ready? What was higher on the to-do list?
    …
    The guy at the top will always take some of the blame – it comes with the job – but I wouldn’t fault Trump too much for assuming the top brass at CDC and other health agencies were taking the most obvious and common-sense preparatory measures.
    I also wouldn’t fault Trump too much for being surprised to learn the system actually has roadblocks that make quick and effective epidemic response difficult. Would you think, upon succeeding the president in charge during the H1N1 epidemic, that would be the case?

    The fascinating thing about the Democrats’ “Trump cut CDC funding” lie is that none of them bothered to actually READ the unimplemented White House budget proposal in question. It talked about CDC getting distracted from its core mission by excessive staff and bureaucratic creep.
    Everything I’ve seen so far buttresses that analysis. There really is no excuse for a gigantic government swimming in money, bursting with personnel, and top-heavy with management to be paralyzed unless the chief executive comes in and micro-manages every agency. /end

    There could be a couple of things at work here, all of which cut across the grain of Trump’s experience in business.
    CAVEAT: “They” does not apply to everyone at the CDC of course, but (as with the DOJ, FBI, CIA, etc), it probably applies to a lot of them.

    The mission creep has, as with all agencies that get too big and too entrenched, driven out people with a true mission and left just the creeps.
    When you can get criticized (no one is ever fired) even for doing the right thing, nobody does anything until they are told to.
    The Democrats fostered a system of top-down micro-managing (beginning with Wilson if not sooner), and it’s hard to break old habits.
    They were simply not going to do anything Trump expected them to do because he would get the credit, and are only doing it now because the public knows what he told them to do.

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