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2020 March

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

Letters to the editor with pictures since 2002. Published on Big Pine Key’s garbage days, Tuesdays and Fridays.

[Coronavirus] 1. If you have a runny nose and sputum, you have a common cold.
2. Coronavirus pneumonia is a dry cough with no runny nose.
3. This new virus is not heat-resistant and will be killed by a temperature of just 26/27 degrees.( is that Chinese degrees?) It hates the Sun.
4. If someone sneezes with it, it takes about 10 feet before it drops to the ground and is no longer airborne.
5. If it drops on a metal surface it will live for at least 12 hours – so if you come into contact with any metal surface – wash your hands as soon as you can with a bacterial soap.
6. On fabric it can survive for 6-12 hours. normal laundry detergent will kill it.
7. Drinking warm water is effective for all viruses. Try not to drink liquids with ice.
8. Wash your hands frequently as the virus can only live on your hands for 5-10 minutes, but – a lot can happen during that time – you can rub your eyes, pick your nose unwittingly and so on.
9. You should also gargle as a prevention. A simple solution of salt in warm water will suffice.
10. Can’t emphasize enough – drink plenty of water!Symptoms:
1. It will first infect the throat, so you’ll have a sore throat lasting 3/4 days
2. The virus then blends into a nasal fluid that enters the trachea and then the lungs, causing pneumonia. This takes about 5/6 days further.
3. With the pneumonia comes high fever and difficulty in breathing.
4. The nasal congestion is not like the normal kind. You feel like you’re drowning. It’s imperative you then seek immediate attention.
[“Clueless Captain from NYC”] It’s a little late for the dead local fisherman killed by a clueless captain, but New York just instituted driver training for boat owners.

 

 

[Coronavirus Masks] If there are better masks other then the ones they tell us not to use, why don’t they tell us about them and where to buy them?

[Bissextile] Anything related to the extra day of a leap year. Since he was born in a bissextile year, his mother joked that he got his driver’s license when he was 4 years old. Link

 

[“Licensed contractors”] There should be a “Handyman” license for work not to exceed a certain amount be it money or materials or scope of the work. In which case the homeowner should not have recourse if the handyman screws up. It will be just a gamble for him to hire someone to do small jobs. That will allow the many illegal handyman a chance at the big time without the expense. The current licensing system is unfair to the little guy.

[Clueless Captain] Another rich dude from up north who doesn’t know how to drive. Video
[Protecting Yourself Part 2]  6. Always take the elevator instead of the stairs. Stairwells are horrible places to be alone and the perfect crime spot. This is especially true at night!)
7. If the predator has a gun and you are not under his control — always run!
The predator will only hit you (a running target) 4 in 100 times; and even then, it most likely will not be a vital organ. Run, preferably in a zig -zag pattern.
8. As women, we are always trying to be sympathetic — stop! It may get you raped or killed.
(Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was a good-looking, well-educated man, who always played on the sympathies of unsuspecting women. He walked with a cane, or a limp, and often asked ‘for help’ into his vehicle or with his vehicle, which is when he abducted his next victim).
9. Another safety point: Someone just told me that her friend heard a crying baby on her porch the night before last and because it was late and she thought it was weird. She called the police. The police told her ‘Whatever you do, do not open the door. The lady then said that it sounded like the baby had crawled near a windrow and she was worried that it would crawl to the street and get run over. The policeman said, ‘We already have a unit on the way, whatever you do, do not open the door.’ He told her that they think a serial killer has a baby’s cry recorded and uses it to coax women out of their homes thinking that someone dropped off a baby. He said they have not verified it but have had several calls by women saying that they hear baby’s cries outside their doors when they’re home alone at night.
10. Water scam. If you wake up in the middle of the night to hear all your taps outside running or what you think is a burst pipe — do not go out to investigate. These people turn on all your outside taps full blast so that you will go out to investigate and then attack. Stay alert, keep safe, and look out for your neighbors
I watched an original Star Trek TV show last night and got a history lesson. The Enterprise had encountered an earth spaceship with over 70 people sleeping in suspended animation with a heartbeat of only 4 beats per minute. The ship had been launched in 1993 following earth’s Eugenics Wars of the nineties where scientists had bred humans with superhuman abilities that were also aggressive conquerors. Space travel didn’t really mature until 2013. Having lived as an adult through all those years, I wonder how I missed all that? Either Star Trek was overly optimistic about the advance of earth civilization or I am a true Space Cadet. I think I will go sniff some glue now.
[“Backup alarms“] I wholeheartedly agree with your post about back up alarms. Have you ever been to the transfer station on Cudjoe? The back up alarm on the front loader is brain searing loud and completely unnecessary for its intended purpose. When the wind is out of the north it can be heard south of US 1. I guess they’re concerned about backing over someone in Cudjoe Gardens.
[Sanctuary Cities] A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that the Justice Department can refuse to give crime-fighting money to cities and states that consider themselves sanctuaries and refuse to share information with federal immigration authorities. Link

 

 

 

 

Here is the best and easiest firewood rack I’ve ever seen.

[The Rise of Civilization] Why then did the Fertile Crescent and China eventually lose their enormous leads of thousands of years to late-starting Europe?  One can point to proximate factors behind Europe’s rise:
Its development of a merchant class, capitalism, and patent protection for inventions, its failure to develop absolute despots and crushing taxation, and its Greco-Judeo-Christian tradition of critical empirical inquiry.”  ~Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond, p. 410

I’m looking for an upholstery steam cleaner to do a large job. The local Stanley Steamer need not respond.  ~bpkchuck692@gmail.com
[Living in Fear] After spending hours on my desktop and 30-inch screen using Google Earth Pro looking at places we thought we would like to travel to, we have decided 90% of this rock is not worth going to. Most everything is a dangerous war zone, trailer trash, bug infested, downright savage or big ugly hazardous cities. The really nice protected places are just that, protected from tourism and middle and low classes who are not welcomed. Things have changed so much in the last 50+ years that it doesn’t pay to leave your house except by way of your computer.

 

[Coronavirus Masks] Unless you are  the one who is coughing and sneezing, wearing a mask is worse than not wearing one. The reason is that people constantly adjust their masks after touching contaminated surfaces. Also, the effectiveness of the masks lasts only about 20 minutes.

[Coronavirus and Beer] It turns out that 38% of Americans think that the Coronavirus comes from Corona beer. Fact: Only hangovers, fist fights, unwanted pregnancies, STDs, regret, DUIs and potential job loss after telling off your boss may result from drinking too much Corona beer

 

 

[Dating Younger A Women] If you’re over 50, it’s time to leave them young girls alone and get yourself a woman who understands the signs of a stroke.

[Coronavirus] The fear is world-wide over the Coronavirus threat and there is a lot of misinformation being propagated about it. As usual, politics jumps aboard every perceived crisis from another opportunity to throw darts at Trump to attaching U.S. domestic spying authorization to a bill to fund the CDC for disease fighting. This current strain of corona virus was first found in Saudi in 2012 and has been replicated in a Canadian biological lab for study. I think we can understand why. Chinese biologists at the lab stole some for the Chinese lab from which it escaped. Here’s the whole story. Link

Like its predecessors, this strain will likely also contain without developing a vaccine or the other frantic responses. If you catch it, you have a 98% chance of surviving it. That is way worse odds than surviving most other strains of corona virus such as are lumped together as a common cold or flu. They don’t tell you when you get a flu shot that it actually makes you more susceptible to strains not included in the shot. Instead of waiting fearfully for someone in government to save you from COVID-19/2019-nCoV, how about just minimizing your exposure risk and trusting that you will not die before your allotted time is up? Paper money is probably the biggest spreader of disease. Insert your credit card for payment, or wash the bugs off your hands after handling cash. If you can avoid Miami and its very filthy airport that is a real good thing. Key West has been promoted for years by the TDC as a great place to spread a disease, I mean visit, and is also probably best avoided to minimize your risk. Maximize your immunity with a few supplements, don’t rub your eyes with your hands, limit the foods you eat out that have been handled but not just cooked, and wash your hands more often and you should escape this bug just like the previous panic disease threats. Or not. Government will not save you. Save yourself.

[Emergency Survival Tips] Everyone should take 5 minutes to read this. It may save your life or a loved one’s life. In daylight hours, refresh yourself of these things to do in an emergency situation… This is for you, and for you to share.
1. The elbow is the strongest point on your body. If you are close enough to use it, do.
2. If a robber asks for your wallet and/or purse do not hand it to him (It’s always a him) toss it away from you. Chances are that he is more interested in your wallet and/or purse than you, and he will go for the wallet/purse. And then run like mad in the other direction.
3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car, kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like crazy. The driver won’t see you, but everybody else will. This has saved lives.
4. Women have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping and just sit (texting, phoning, etc) Don’t do this. This is the perfect opportunity for a predator to get in on the passenger side. A s soon as you get into your car, lock the doors and drive.
If someone is in the car with a gun to your head do not drive off. Instead buckle up, gun the engine and speed into anything, wrecking the car. Your air bag will save you. If the person is in the back seat they will get the worst of it.
As soon as the car crashes bail out and run

 

 

 

Nemo at the bar.

[Coronavirus] By the time they have fever and/or cough, and go to the hospital, the lungs usually have 50% fibrosis and it’s too late. Taiwan experts provide a simple self-check that we can do every morning: Take a deep breath and hold your breath for more than 10 seconds.  If you complete it successfully without coughing, without discomfort, stuffiness or tightness, etc., it proves there is no fibrosis in the lungs, basically indicating no infection.
[Coronavirus Lies] What do communist governments and the US government have in common? They both lie about the virus. Based on last week’s speeches, don’t trust our government. Trust the CDC and the World Health Organization if you want the truth. I don’t know why our government lies to us. I don’t know what advantage they are trying for as their misinformation only hurts us.
It’s ok y’all. Mike Pence is in charge of the Coronavirus. What could go wrong.
[Old Restaurants] If you really missed the Big Pine Restaurant with its great food and cheep prices. Then you Really would have missed the Coffee Shop with its super breakfasts, great burgers and the unbelievable prices. It wasn’t opened for supper but that’s when we slid on down to Island Jim’s in the old train depot at the curve (now Paradise Burgers). The best ever restaurant in BPK. Three cheers for Midg, Phillipi, and Jonie Evans.
[Winn Dixie on BPK] I totally agree with last Tuesday’s critique about Winn Dixie on BPK. The poster did not mention how the deli section has gone to hell. I have regularly requested a particular type of turkey, only to be given another type, usually with honey. I do not want sugar infused in my turkey. One time I was told they were out and I pointed out that there was one in the display, only to be told those were not real and could not be used. I have come to the conclusion that maybe we do need a Publix on BPK. At least the competition might force them to improve.

 

[Blood Egg Substitute] As the vampires among us may have already known, it turns out that you can use blood as an egg substitute in cooking. I doubt it would work as a recognizable breakfast though. Scrambled, sunny side up, over medium?