Day 3836

It's hard to keep your eye on the ball. I've been around a long time and I don't think I've ever seen so many things going wrong at once. It seems inconceivable that the country doesn't seem capable of taking the coronavirus seriously. South Korea was able to control their outbreak quickly because the entire population was comfortable with the idea of universal surveillance. In a matter of weeks cell phone data, credit card transactions, and surveillance camera information were coordinated in a massive effort to track the entire population. It worked. People with the disease were quickly identified and isolated. China, Taiwan, and other asian countries had similar results.

This doesn't seem to work in the United States. People complain about contact tracing because of privacy issues. Everybody is clamoring for a vaccine but half the population already says that they will refuse to take it because they are suspicious of vaccines in general. There is a huge uproar over masks, which was partially created when the government initially said they were worthless and then changed their mind and said they were essential. Businesses desperately want to open up again, but customers aren't coming back because they still don't feel safe. It's a huge mess.

Add riots and civil unrest to a plague and you've got a recipe for disaster. If there is anything that should cause us to finally get our act together and come up with a unified plan to solve these problems it should be this. It's not happening though. We are not acting like South Korea at all. Every aspect of American life has become politicized, including virus mitigation, mask wearing, tearing down statues, and destroying vibrant American cities. Sadly, there are a lot of people in both political parties who think that this chaos will help them win the next election. Instead of getting together to fix things, they are strategizing on the most effective ways to blame the whole mess on the other side. At this point I think the winner will be ruling a pile of rubble.

I look at this whole situation with a certain amount of sadness. We have become a tribal society and I'm not a member of any tribe. I look at everything as an outsider and it gives me a different perspective on things. Democrats are quick to criticize fundamentalist Christians without acknowledging that they have become a religion themselves. Republicans have a leader who is trying to get rid of the deep state when his own political party actually is the deep state. It's all insane. You can't really blame the Russians and the Chinese for trying to destroy us with provocative memes on Facebook. It's so easy. We've already proved that we are willing to believe almost anything. I hate to throw my vote away in November but it's hard to get excited when both political parties have selected a senile, brain dead old man as their leader.

Oh, well. Life goes on. I've always been a survivor and as things continue to deteriorate, I'm inclined to become even more of a prepper than I was before. I'll continue to take long walks and work on getting stronger. I'll become even better at fixing things myself and will continue to favor the companionship of dogs. As soon as I can find an interesting long-term project I'll stop talking about current events. It's pointless and I certainly don't have a solution. Hey, I got the water off the roof today and took the trash out to the curb. I think that's enough for one day.

Shiner is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3759

There is very little to talk about these days unless you want to argue with someone. There is plenty to argue about because nobody really knows anything. Projections change daily. Strategies change daily. We are told to listen to the scientists, but so far they have surprisingly few answers. What seems strange about this virus is that we've been talking about biological warfare since I was a kid and yet we were completely blindsided by this pandemic. Didn't we know this would happen someday? I'm not saying that the coronavirus was a bioweapon, but at this point does it really make any difference? The simple truth is that we weren't ready for this. The preppers must feel a sense of vindication now. They were right all along.

When this is all over, the first thing I'm going to do is buy a case of N-95 masks, investigate solar power a bit more, drill a well, and maybe learn how to grow strawberries. Self reliance will be worth it's weight in gold in the future. My self reliant friends who always understood the importance of staying healthy, learned how to fix things at an early age, and appreciate the sound of silence seem to be the most sane right now. Most of them are doing fine. The ones who are totally freaking out still want to blame someone.

You can't blame a virus. It isn't even alive. I was as surprised as the next person that something like this happened, but I shouldn't have been. The signs were all there. Every major country has had secret labs where they've been concocting deadly pathogens for decades. The United States is no better than any other country. If you haven't heard about Plum Island you ought to read about it. It will frighten you. At least this bioweapons lab is an island. The government has been wanting to build another lab like this in Manhattan, Kansas within a few miles of the Kansas State football stadium. What could possibly go wrong?

After Chernobyl, the Union Carbide Cyanide gas leak, the Exxon Valdez, Fukushima, and the Deepwater Horizon fire did we really think we were up to the challenge of containing a deadly virus? Humans always overestimate their abilities. The virus will eventually run out of victims and burn itself out. Then everyone will congratulate each other on defeating it. We won't be ready for the next disaster though. We never are.

Honestly, I'm tired of talking about the virus. I'd rather talk about my roof or the next rocket launch I'm planning on attending. You get sucked into these conversations though because nobody is talking about anything else. I try to maintain a sense of normalcy. I still drink my morning smoothie. Janet and I still take Dawn for long morning walks. I'm still optimistic enough to think I'll still reach Day 5000 with this blog. Eventually I run out of toilet paper though and I realize that the world has gone  terribly wrong.

Livy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3740

The baby owls have really grown since I saw them last. I initially mistook one of the babies for the mother this afternoon. A closer look quickly revealed that I was looking at one of the babies, but it was still surprising to see how quickly they had developed. Evidently, young Great Horned Owls eat four times as much as adults, causing them to grow very quickly. The mom isn't around as much these days, but still returns almost every day to feed her children mice and encourage them to fly.

I think there are a lot more doomsday preppers than I ever would have imagined. I can't believe how much food people are buying. When I went to Sam's Club this morning to get some necessities, I saw people with enough food to last them for an entire year. Several people with large SUV's had the entire back of their cars stuffed to the ceiling with food and paper products.

It's easy to see how panic buying escalates. Literally everyone in the store had a big package of paper towels in their buggy, so I got one too. It wasn't a brand that I usually buy, but who cares when you are facing the apocalypse. I certainly hope people don't decide to start using paper towels as toilet papers. If that happens there are going to be some major plumbing problems.

I finally found some distilled water, oatmeal, and blueberries. I never realized that so many people need distilled water. I use it to prevent mineral scale from building up in my coffee maker. Other people use it for more important things, like preventing their Dalmatians from developing stones and keeping CPAP machines running properly.

I wonder when these Spring rains are going to end? I spent so much time clearing the roof of water yesterday and now it's raining again. Water on the roof is my own private version of the Sisyphus myth. The gods who condemned Sisyphus thought that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor. They were probably right. At least the roof isn't leaking.

I think dogs are loving this pandemic. I've never seen so many people walking their dogs in the park. It's good that people are becoming more active. They seem to becoming kinder too. I wonder how long this will last when the pandemic is finally over? I think the panic buying will finally subside when people realize they have more food than they could possible use. Maybe people will continue to drive less as well. One can only hope. I hope some of these new behaviors become permanent.

It's a shame that I won't be able to go to the gym tomorrow. Our options for doing things away from home continue to grow smaller. Janet and I did do our part to support local restaurants by ordering a pizza from a little neighborhood restaurant that makes a good pie.

My dealer told me that I sold a few more brass trains today. It's kind of astonishing that anyone is still buying railroad collectibles during the apocalypse, but it's fine by me. Today's sales almost paid for my trip to McDonald Observatory. I still don't have the nerve to look at my brokerage account. Janet and I have both lost a lot of money, but it's better at this time not to know how much.

The lesson of this week is that life goes on no matter what happens. We adjust to things and establish new priorities. I hope you guys are all doing well. Nobody I know has died yet. I hope I can say the same thing next week.

Big Boy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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