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What Condition is Your Condition In?

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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Tuesday, March 31, 2020 8:43 AM

 

Another silly factoid is that Fahrenheit set up his temperature scale by putting ice in saltwater to get it as cold as possible and called that 0°, then he took his own temperature and called that 100°.  He must have been sick that day!

 

Semper Vaporo

Pkgs.

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Posted by NKP guy on Tuesday, March 31, 2020 8:45 AM

   As to the Original Thread here...

        My "Condition" is fine for the moment.  It's my haircut that looks to be in a bad condition.  Things are so dire that Lady NKP has been watching YouTube videos on cutting men's hair.  Fortunately she has a costume wig to practice on.

        For those here who still have hair to cut...how are you going to manage another month or so of long hair and closed barber shops? 

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Posted by Juniata Man on Tuesday, March 31, 2020 9:16 AM

NKP; you have touched on the next thing to weigh heavily on my mind (besides the TP shortage).  Two of my sons used to cut each other's hair and, push comes to shove, I may just ask one of them to give their old dad a haircut.  

Of course; it'll likely be a buzz but; that would last longer.

Curt

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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Tuesday, March 31, 2020 10:23 AM

I have plenty of hair, but I have not been to a barber shop for,... uh... I don't remember the last time I was in one... I stand in the bathroom, comb my hair over my ears and use the electric clippers to cut off anything covering them.  Then I comb it straight back and put my right hand to span my index finger behind my left ear to my thumb touching the boney spot just below the neck in the back and trim everything below my hand, then switch hands to the other ear and do the right side.  Then I place one hand straight across the back of my neck just above the boney spot and trim everything below that.  I then use a "trim comb" (it has razor-blades behind some large teeth to limit how close it can cut) to comb the hair on the sides to neaten it up a bit.  Done... now get the vacuum cleaner to clean up the floor and then take a shower to get the loose hair off me.

Semper Vaporo

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Posted by Deggesty on Tuesday, March 31, 2020 11:14 AM

Semper Vaporo

 

Another silly factoid is that Fahrenheit set up his temperature scale by putting ice in saltwater to get it as cold as possible and called that 0°, then he took his own temperature and called that 100°.  He must have been sick that day!

 

 

Are you sure that was Fahrenheit, and not Celsius?

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Posted by rdamon on Tuesday, March 31, 2020 11:23 AM

100C is quite the fever!

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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Tuesday, March 31, 2020 11:34 AM

Fahreneit.  Celsius is 0 for freezing water and 100 for boiling water.

Semper Vaporo

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Posted by Paul of Covington on Tuesday, March 31, 2020 1:22 PM

Semper Vaporo
I have not been to a barber shop for,... uh... I don't remember the last time I was in one...

   Hey, that sounds like me.  I haven't been to a barber in almost 50 years.  I use a step ladder with a mirror propped up on it facing the medicine cabinet to see behind me.  The hardest part is behind the ears.

_____________ 

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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, March 31, 2020 2:37 PM

rdamon
100C is quite the fever!

It would even boil water!

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by tree68 on Tuesday, March 31, 2020 3:52 PM

BaltACD
It would even boil water!

I'm sure there are people who have had a fever who thought they probably could.

As to haircuts - I got one just before the last shops closed down.

Years ago, a co-worker showed up with a nasty excuse for a haircut.  Seems they'd tried one of those "Flowbee" things you hook up to your vacuum cleaner.  I wouldn't recommend it...

LarryWhistling
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Posted by blue streak 1 on Tuesday, March 31, 2020 7:20 PM

BaltACD

 

 
rdamon
100C is quite the fever!

 

It would even boil water!

 

Don't forget that is at sea level

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Posted by zugmann on Tuesday, March 31, 2020 7:44 PM

blue streak 1
Don't forget that is at sea level

Assuming no atmosphere? 

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any

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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Tuesday, March 31, 2020 8:10 PM

No, specifically WITH "1 Atmosphere".

Semper Vaporo

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Posted by Paul_D_North_Jr on Tuesday, March 31, 2020 9:16 PM

At zero atmosphere (essentially in space) it would boil at at any temperature down to when it freezes at 32 deg. F.  Then weird stuff might happen to the solid ice - vapor pressure, sublimation, and all that - which I'm not qualified to explain. 

- PDN. 

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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, March 31, 2020 9:39 PM

Paul_D_North_Jr
At zero atmosphere (essentially in space) it would boil at at any temperature down to when it freezes at 32 deg. F.  Then weird stuff might happen to the solid ice - vapor pressure, sublimation, and all that - which I'm not qualified to explain. 

- PDN. 

COSMOS at 8 PM Monday's on National Geographic channel -- is downright interesting - especially when thinking about physics and science of space.

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Posted by greyhounds on Tuesday, March 31, 2020 10:12 PM

BaltACD
COSMOS at 8 PM Monday's on National Geographic channel -- is downright interesting - especially when thinking about physics and science of space.

I know National Geographic TV has flat out distorted things in the past.  Viewer be ware.

"By many measures, the U.S. freight rail system is the safest, most efficient and cost effective in the world." - Federal Railroad Administration, October, 2009. I'm just your average, everyday, uncivilized howling "anti-government" critic of mass government expenditures for "High Speed Rail" in the US. And I'm gosh darn proud of that.
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Posted by Euclid on Wednesday, April 1, 2020 9:55 AM

This article seems unable to conclude whether a virus is alive, as if the question is not settled science.  It appears to be only a matter of consensus.  As the range of life becomes more and more obscure, perhaps it is easier to doubt that it exists.  There is no question that an elephant is life.  Maybe the virus is just a smaller elephant.   

https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/cells/viruses/a/are-viruses-dead-or-alive

From the link:

How do we determine whether something is alive? Let’s compare viruses to the 7 criteria researchers have set to determine if something is alive [followed by whether or not they meet the stated condition].

1. Living things must maintain homeostasis.  Fail

2. Living things have different levels of organization.  Pass

3. Living things reproduce.  Maybe

4. Living things grow.  Fail

5. Living things use energy.  Maybe

6. Living things respond to stimuli.  Unknown

7. Living things adapt to their environment.  Pass 

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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, April 1, 2020 11:23 AM

Euclid
This article seems unable to conclude whether a virus is alive, as if the question is not settled science.

Does it matter?  It's real, it can make you sick.  Under the right circumstances it can replicate.  If the reports that certain NSAIDS can make an infection worse are true, then maybe it does respond to stimuli.

But, in the end - does it matter?  Don't lose any sleep over it.

LarryWhistling
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Posted by Euclid on Wednesday, April 1, 2020 12:33 PM

tree68
But, in the end - does it matter? Don't lose any sleep over it.

It matters to me because I am currious about things. 

I think it is fascinating that the virus seems to have an intention for propagation just like any animal or human, and that it seems intent on overcoming our intent to stop it.  Why would I lose sleep over that?

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Posted by Overmod on Wednesday, April 1, 2020 12:43 PM

Euclid
I think it is fascinating that the virus seems to have an intention for propagation just like any animal or human, and that it seems intent on overcoming our intent to stop it. 

It is not "intent" in the conscious sense, or even in the instinctive sense that typifies even single-celled behavior.  It is strictly a consequence of effective 'design'.  

I think a very good reference source for you will be Vincent Racaniello's virology blog and appended resources, culminating in his Columbia course notes.  If you read and follow the material he has provided, most of your understanding will be much better informed than it presently appears to be.

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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, April 1, 2020 12:46 PM

Euclid
I think it is fascinating that the virus seems to have an intention for propagation just like any animal or human, and that it seems intent on overcoming our intent to stop it.

Think of it as dust.  It's around everywhere, but it's got a kick.  

Or "Never Seez."  If you've ever used the stuff, you know it has a way of getting everywhere, even places you don't think you touched.

Once it gets inside your body, it does what viruses do - replicates.  For now, nobody has any resistance to it.  That will come in time, either through a vaccine, or having had the infection. 

LarryWhistling
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Posted by Euclid on Wednesday, April 1, 2020 1:42 PM

Overmod
 
Euclid
I think it is fascinating that the virus seems to have an intention for propagation just like any animal or human, and that it seems intent on overcoming our intent to stop it. 

 

It is not "intent" in the conscious sense, or even in the instinctive sense that typifies even single-celled behavior.  It is strictly a consequence of effective 'design'.  

I think a very good reference source for you will be Vincent Racaniello's virology blog and appended resources, culminating in his Columbia course notes.  If you read and follow the material he has provided, most of your understanding will be much better informed than it presently appears to be.

 

I have no informed understanding of it.  That is why I asked whether it is living or non-living.  Show me an informed explanation of that question that it simple, clear, and understandable.

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Posted by Overmod on Wednesday, April 1, 2020 1:45 PM

tree68
Once it gets inside your body, it does what viruses do - replicates.

Perhaps more to the point, for him:

This reminds me a bit of a piece of inadvertent bureaucratic scrambling during the Lockerbie hearings.  Someone in testimony let a very important key figure 'slip' in questioning, and it was carefully and emphatically hushed up thereafter -- that being the number of actual terrorist plots that had been detected and addressed in the week prior to the successful bombing of the aircraft.  That number -- and mind you, not the number of plots that were thought up or agitated about, just the ones implemented and intercepted, was somewhere over 2,000.  In just that one week of 'normal' vigilance and response...

There are many, many different evolved viruses, some of which might pass into and out of your body every second.  If they lack specific receptors to attach to mammalian cells -- they will not infect you.  If your immune system addresses them correctly -- even if they infect you they will not do so very hard, or for very long.  Likewise you may be developing thousands of incipient cancers per day, in different tissues, which promptly induce apoptosis and shut themselves down; the phenomenon can also be observed in more frankly developed cancers through what used to be called 'spontaneous regression'.  Just as much of life is a 'war of all against all' on the micro level, so it is with other forms of evolved 'reproduction' even when non-conscious.  

As a sort of comparison, look how improbable something like conjugation to produce O157:H7 E. coli in sufficient numbers to cause human disease is.  And what social and economic things conspire to produce it.  Similar things are observed in nosocomial infections -- which, be it added, is why I can't understand why most of the present COVID-19 'critical facilities' all appear to be open-ward with a bunch of plastic draped around in the wrong places, as if no one learned anything meaningful at all from the 1918-20 influenza kinetics.  

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Posted by MikeF90 on Monday, April 6, 2020 5:18 PM

Not sure if this site has been posted here, but the UofW Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) has a COVID-19 Projections page tracking the progress of cases state by state. A few states show that they have passed the peak resource use, but new data coming in constantly will bear monitoring. April and well into May will still be critical months to help 'flatten the curve'.

In related news, the webmaster of the long running railfan site trainorders.com has reported that he has the symptoms of COVID-19. What is especially interesting is that he has been on hydroxychloroquine for nine months using the same daily dose that was suggested for COVID-19 treatment. A sample size of one, but not promising despite the rantings of our CiC and Sean Handpuppet of FNC. Unethical physicians have caused a dire shortage of this drug which is actually effective for patients suffering from lupus and other conditions.

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Posted by Overmod on Monday, April 6, 2020 5:38 PM

MikeF90
A sample size of one, but not promising despite the rantings of our CiC and Sean Handpuppet of FNC. Unethical physicians have caused a dire shortage of this drug which is actually effective for patients suffering from lupus and other conditions.

Most of what I've seen so far indicates that the hydroxychloroquine is not effective 'by itself'; it creates conditions that facilitate degradation of key parts of the developed interaction between the viral-envelope spike protein and the ACE 'receptor' after the former has actively bonded to the original 'targeted receptor' site on the membrane-bound enzyme to which it originally bonded.  The 'co-drug' is a small molecule that actually targets separation that 'de-facilitates' injection of the viral RNA genome through the developed complex -- and if something with this action is not present, the net effect of the chloroquine is peripheral at most.  

Hydroxychloroquine apparently does little to reduce either the induction or the subsequent 'runaway' of the immune-system action that creates ARDS.  Since this is almost completely the action that leads to lethality 'from' COVID-19 at this point, it follows that once the infection has progressed to the degree of overt symptoms, most of the prospective value of the hydrochloroquine is essentially of the same value as 'the altitude above you, the runway behind you, and the fuel still residing in the truck'.

Meanwhile the death rate from H1N1 still runs at about 100:1 of that actually caused by SARS-CoV-2.  But since that's presented as 'only the flu' and we supposedly have shots to stop it (so it's essentially your fault as an antivaxxer if you fail to obtain protection every year) that's not important enough to target as its own 'pandemic'.

Meanwhile: the Japanese are testing a conserved polymerase inhibitor for SARS-Co clones in Israel, Saudis and Chiese have identified nine botanical sources of a specific-acting 3CLpro inhibitor (and others have designed a precise-docking safe inhibitor for synthesis, effective serological testing is about to be mainstreamed, and substantially nonintrusive tests for viral-particle contamination of mucous membranes -- better than the current crop of wacky 63%-accurate swab tests our skilled research personnel have cobbled up to date -- are not too far in the offing.  With those in production we can shift attention to social-distancing those at greatest risk of actually dying from effects of this novel virus, while the rest of society can get back to pretending it won't or can't put firmer response mechanisms in place for the real coming pandemic that is surely coming.

Where's the Bromo-Quinine when we need it?

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Posted by Randy Stahl on Tuesday, April 7, 2020 6:33 AM

I take a biologic alpha TnA inhibitor, my immune response may be different than some. Who knows ,right?

The bigger issue is that I have an MP15AC that pops its low water button and shuts down but only during the last move of the day. You can pound on the engine all day and its fine, at the end of the day it shuts down. It does restart and runs fine though...

 

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Posted by adkrr64 on Tuesday, April 7, 2020 10:22 AM

Randy Stahl
The bigger issue is that I have an MP15AC that pops its low water button and shuts down but only during the last move of the day. You can pound on the engine all day and its fine, at the end of the day it shuts down. It does restart and runs fine though...

I occasionally have a similar problem, where my "low beer" button pops near the end of the day. I can always restart and run fine for a period of time, though it is important to rectify the problem at an appropriate servicing terminal as soon as it is safe to do so.

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Posted by GERALD L MCFARLANE JR on Tuesday, April 7, 2020 10:35 AM

NKP guy

   As to the Original Thread here...

        My "Condition" is fine for the moment.  It's my haircut that looks to be in a bad condition.  Things are so dire that Lady NKP has been watching YouTube videos on cutting men's hair.  Fortunately she has a costume wig to practice on.

        For those here who still have hair to cut...how are you going to manage another month or so of long hair and closed barber shops?  

For me this is fabulous, I get to let it grow out as long as I've always wanted it...when you have a fat face longer hair makes your face look smaller, and most of the time at work they don't make me follow the rules of it not being below the base of the collar(stupid rule since females can have it 2 inches below, they're being sexist, I should point that out)...otherwise when someone does decide to enforce that rule I just put it up in a man tail.  I always looked better with longer hair anyways.  They could stay closed for another two months or more, I can trim those areas that need it myself, which is only around the ears and  the side burns.

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Posted by Euclid on Tuesday, April 7, 2020 11:26 AM

VIRUS LIVING VERSUS NON-LIVING

What I notice about life is that it always drives to procreate.  It seems that with animals, their only purpose is to procreate and so they live a hard life only to do that one ultimate objective. 

Viruses also procreate as though that is actually an objective.  Animals are alive, so we can see their drive to procreate as being an intention rather than just a random act like a rock falling off a cliff.  So this raises the question of whether viruses too have an intention to procreate.  If they have that intention, they are not merely "poisonous dust" as some say.  Also, if viruses have an intention to spread, it raises to a higher level, the question of how we fight them, compared to if they are just inanimate particles without intent.

I notice that the scientific view of this tends to be a solid, settled conclusion that viruses are non-living, whereas others may consider the question to be unanswered.  Here is an excellent article on this basic question:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-viruses-alive-2004/ 

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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, April 7, 2020 12:18 PM

Euclid

VIRUS LIVING VERSUS NON-LIVING

What I notice about life is that it always drives to procreate.  It seems that with animals, their only purpose is to procreate and so they live a hard life only to do that one ultimate objective. 

Viruses also procreate as though that is actually an objective.  Animals are alive, so we can see their drive to procreate as being an intention rather than just a random act like a rock falling off a cliff.  So this raises the question of whether viruses too have an intention to procreate.  If they have that intention, they are not merely "poisonous dust" as some say.  Also, if viruses have an intention to spread, it raises to a higher level, the question of how we fight them, compared to if they are just inanimate particles without intent.

I notice that the scientific view of this tends to be a solid, settled conclusion that viruses are non-living, whereas others may consider the question to be unanswered.  Here is an excellent article on this basic question:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-viruses-alive-2004/ 

COSMOS

The biological age, the age of life in the cosmos, is where NASA focuses much of its efforts for finding life elsewhere. From the story of life here, we know that it was very simple for most of the 3.5 billion years that it existed: one-celled organisms dominated for almost 3 billion years. According to the theory of evolution, there is no directive for life to become complex with time. It can, but it could just be bacteria all the way. Complex organisms may form as they did here, but they require a set of unusual conditions, from planetary stability (orbital, weather, etc.) to proper atmospheric composition — not so easy to find around.

 

 

That life here evolved to generate a species with cognitive awareness is almost surprising. But, hey, here we are! The cognitive age may have started elsewhere in the galaxy or in other galaxies, but in our planet it is quite recent — only a few hundred thousand years old. Maybe because I've been re-watching Star Wars with my kids recently, it's hard to imagine that we are it when it comes to life and, more to the point, intelligent life. On the other hand, as one starts to look at all the necessary steps to go from non-life to cognition, it's also hard to imagine that intelligent life is widespred.

 

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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