May 2020 – Page 11 – Our RV Adventures

Monthly Archives: May 2020

May 11, 2020 Uncategorized

Masks and Mammoths . . .

Just some more facts.

Remember that ‘Flattening The Curve’ has nothing to do with reducing the number of infections or deaths, but was put in place to spread out the same number of cases over a longer period of time to keep the hospitals from getting overrun. Which we neve came close to anyway. Here’s what I posted previously.

What is flattening the curve?

In epidemiology, the curve refers to the projected number of new cases over a period of time.

In contrast to a steep rise of coronavirus infections, a more gradual uptick of cases will see the same number of people get infected, but without overburdening the health-care system at any one time.

The idea of flattening the curve is to stagger the number of new cases over a longer period, so that people have better access to care.

Recently Governor Cuomo released a study showing that 66% of the new WuFlu cases in New York were sheltering at home, not traveling or working. So much for self-quarantining, I guess.

Really like that ‘Hello Kitty’ mask your Nana sewed up for you, or that bandana with the skull on it that you’re so proud of. Well, according to researchers at Texas A&M, it’s pretty much useless.

COVID-19 Mask Materials

With an N95 mask rated at 100, any mask made from cotton, even two layers and regardless of thread count, is only about 28% effective. And the coffee filter hack is even worse.

Actually the best common material to make a homemade mask from would be one made from a Eureka vacuum cleaner bag, since it’s about 94% effective.

Or if you want to combine decent mask effectiveness and encourage social distancing, you could just put a bra cup over your face. It’s about 83% effective and probably no one will want to get near you. It’s a Two’fer!

It has recently come out that Dr. Birx, who along with Dr. Fauci, are the lead physicians on President Trumps Virus Taskforce, has broken with the CDC.

“There is nothing from the CDC that I can trust,” she told CDC Director Robert Redfield.

So everyone says we’ve got to trust the ‘experts’. I want to know which ‘experts’ and what if they don’t agree.

I decided to jump back to the very first blog post I made from Budapest, Hungary on our European trip last year.

This one’s from April 28, 2019

I Made A Boo-Boo . . .

In preparing for our trip, I’ve been making checklists for months, I.e. what we’re going to take, what we need to buy, what we need to do in the rig right before we leave, etc. And even checklists for what gets packed in carry-on and what gets packed in our checked bags.

However, what I didn’t do was have an item on one of my many checklists that would remind me to grab up my computer bag, containing my laptop, tablet, and Kindle Fire, and my Panasonic Lumix camera that I was just going to carry with me. My excuse is that our driver arrived about 30 minutes ahead of schedule and that threw me off. At least that’s what I’m going with.

So they’re still sitting on the passenger seat in the rig, right where I can see them on one of my 3 Wyze security cams that I set up in the rig. And which is why this is the first blog I’ve posted since we left.

This morning after a fantastic (and free) breakfast at the hotel, we took a taxi over to the Mammut Mall. Mammut means ‘Mammoth’, and it is. And it even has one out front.

It’s made up of two LARGE buildings on opposite sides of the street, and connected by a glass walkway on the 2nd level. And there are about six levels, including the large SPAR grocery store in the basement.

Besides wanting to see the place that everyone was talking about, one of the guys at the Viking Concierge Desk said that Notebook.hu was a good place to buy a laptop, and it was, and it’s what I’m typing on now.

I got a good deal on an ASUS model, and the deal got even better when I mentioned that the Viking guy had sent me.

Afterwards we spent a couple of hours walking around, checking the many shops and stores. And it seems KFC and BK translate into any language.

While got a Strawberry gelato, made with fresh strawberries, I got a Caramel Coffee at Starbucks right next door.

And over here it seems if your not getting your coffee to go, it comes in a nice porcelain mug. Much more elegant.

So I’ll spend the next couple of days catching up the blog on how we got to this point.

When the bellhop got us a taxi at the hotel, we knew we would be OK, since they’ve vetted by the hotel and know if they gouge the hotel’s guests, they won’t be allowed to pick up passengers there any longer. But at the Mall you’re on your own, and apparently it’s real easy to get screwed on the fare, even to the point of being physically threatened if you don’t pay up.

The taxi service in Hungary has been referred to as ‘Mafia-like’ and has even managed to have ride services like Uber and Lyft completely banned throughout the entire country.

So, coming back to the hotel, we decide to try the bus system. And with Google’s help, we had no real problems, and even got to ride for free, since apparently most people use passes. The website says it costs 450 HUF (about $1.56) for a single ride without a transfer. But when Jan and I held out our 500 HUF notes he just waved us in. Probably didn’t want to fool with making change.

The bus dropped us off right in front of Matthias Church,

and across from the Fisherman’s Bastion,

which is just half a block from our hotel.

Hungary’s money takes a little getting used to. It’s called the Forint, as in Hungarian Forint, or HUF. And the exchange is kind of interesting.

1000 HUF is about $3.46, so you end with some very large numbers in prices. According to placard in our room. it cost 160,000 HUF a night. And if we wanted a view of the Danube, it would be 180,000 a night. And that’s $553 and $622 respectively. Though I doubt Viking is paying that much a night.

But for your $500+ a night you do get a great room,

and a fantastic breakfast. And this not some typical hotel fare of do-it-yourself waffles and stale cereal in little boxes. No, this is pretty much every thing you can think of for breakfast, and even more. But I’ll have more on this tomorrow as I catch up.

This evening Jan and I again had dinner at the LANG Bistro & Grill, the hotel’s main restaurant. And not only is the décor very elegant,

but the closeup view of the Fisherman’s Bastion out our window

was very picturesque as well.

For dinner Jan had the same Paprika Chicken that I had last night,

which is a rolled Chicken Breast in a delicious sauce, on top of gnocchi noodles, all covered in sour cream. It also came with a Cold Pickled Cucumber Salad made with very thinly sliced cucumbers, topped with, what else, Paprika, which seems to the the National Spice of Hungary, since it’s in pretty much everything,

I figured that since I was in Hungary I should try a bowl of Hungarian Goulash.

I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was pretty much just Beef Stew, with tender chunks of beef, potatoes, carrots, onions, and, I think, parsnips, in a spicy (paprika?) sauce. But very, very good anyway.

For dessert we had coffee, and split a delicious Crème Brule. We felt as much as we had walked today, we deserved it.

Wrapping up, early tomorrow afternoon we’ll board the Skirnir, but we won’t actually sail until Tuesday night, after a day of excursions here. Then our next stop is Vienna, Austria.

Thought For The Day:

We used to have village idiots, but now with the Internet the idiots have gone global.

sss

May 10, 2020 Uncategorized

Lorelei and Chicken Fingers . . .

Just some facts.

52% of U.S counties have had NO WuFlu deaths.

India, which had about 4 times the U.S. population, has only had about 2000 WuFlu deaths, vs 80,000+ for the U.S. The other significant fact about India is that they are the world’s largest maker and user of HCQ due to prevalence of malaria there.

Coincidence?

As I’ve mentioned before the Asian Flu Pandemic of 1957-58 killed about 116,000 people in the U.S. But what I failed to do was to adjust for the differences in population. In 1957 the U.S population was only about 175,000,000 So based on today’s 330 million, that’s the equivalent of 217,000 deaths, with no lockdowns, shutdowns, or huddling in place.

And adjusting the Hong Kong Flu Pandemic of 1968-69 the same way, the then 200,000,000 U.S. population means the 100,000 deaths is the equivalent of 165,000 deaths today.

What’s also important about these two pandemics is that they are both subtypes of the same Influenza A strain, the same Influenza A strain that’s still around today as the seasonal flu. Influenza A and B are the two main flu strains that the seasonal flu shot is supposed to combat. Note that there is NOT a vaccine for a flu strain that’s been around for over 60 years.

Yes, there is a yearly flu SHOT available, but not a VACCINE. A vaccine is a one-time (usually) vaccination for a disease, I.e. Smallpox, Polio, Measles, Mumps, Diphtheria, Whooping Cough, etc..

But flu viruses regularly mutate, which is why there needs to be a new flu shot every year. And even then it’s often only 25 to 30% effective. And on top of that, normally less than than half of the U.S. population even gets the flu shot anyway.

I certainly don’t, and I’ve told you why.

And a recent poll says that if there is a WuFlu vaccination or shot, 25% of the population won’t get it anyway. And I won’t either, for the same reason as the seasonal flu shot.

What I’m leading to on all this is that, based on past performance, I will be very surprised if there ever is a ‘vaccine’ for the WuFlu. Yes, there may be some sort of shot, or treatment, but not a one-time vaccine.

So what does this mean for all the authorities, governors, public health officers, etc., who say that they’re keeping things in lockdown until there is a vaccine.

Might be a long wait.

But it’s beginning to look like the citizens are starting to take things into their own hands.

Big Swath of Pennsylvania Now in Open Rebellion Against Democrat Governor. 44 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties have told the governor that they’re opening up on their own timing.

3,000 California Church United churches, with over 2.5 million members plan to reopen May 31st In defiance Of Gov. Newsom’s orders. Now a federal judge has upheld the governor’s right to keep the churches closed as long as he deems necessary, but a federal judge in Kentucky has issued a temporary restraining order again the governor of Kentucky saying he can not keep churches shut down based on the First Amendment Freedom of Religion clause

Now, normally what happens when two federal judges disagree on a ruling, the Supreme Court steps in to referee. So we’ll see what happens here.

And now the governor of Oregon, like Lucy snatching Charlie Brown’s football away, now says that the state can’t open back up until the state’s WuFlu cases are less than the usual seasonal flu cases this time of the year. This from a state where 60% of the 115 deaths have been in senior facilities.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, we had planned to watch the Lone Star VE Day Flyover this afternoon. And by looking at the map it looked to becoming just west of Baybrook Mall west of I-45 on Bay Area Blvd. So the idea was to get up there about 2pm, get a couple of 4 piece Box Combos from Raising Cane’s, and park out in the open area west of the mall to eat our meal and wait for the 30 plane formation to fly over about 45 minutes later.

But it was not to be. And I’m not really sure what happened.

About the time scheduled for the flyover in our area, I saw two of what I think were AT-6 trainers followed by the B-25 fly overhead, but they were coming from the wrong direction and looked to be heading straight back to Ellington, rather than heading down to Dickinson like they were supposed to.

So I started looking around for the other 25+ planes and I finally found them flying much further south and much higher than the scheduled 2000 ft,, and there was only 10 of them. So what happened to the rest of the planes, and the route I don’t know.

But the chicken fingers were really, really good.

One Year Ago Today: We were cruising the Rhine River in Germany

Scenic Cruising The Rhine . . .

05/10/2019

We had been sailing all night from Wertheim Am Main heading to Koblenz along the last part of our Main River voyage.

And, by last part, at a little after 9:30, we passed under the Kostheimer Brücke bridge

and hung a right onto the downstream flow of the Rhine River.

This part, known as the Middle Rhine, has probably more castles, churches, and palaces per mile than anywhere else, supposedly over 25,000 of them.

Starting with the Biebrich Palace,

and another church to be named later.

Or at least I didn’t get the name of this one, as well as a few others.

The Rhine along this part of the river is very fast flowing, so there are these breakwaters all along the way to protect the banks from being eroded away.

Next is the Binger Maus Tower, or Mouse Tower.

These small ones along the river’s edge were actually Toll Stations where passing ships would stop to pay the toll to the local lords. Armed guards were usually stationed here, often with a chain across the river to block the way until the toll was paid. This one dates from the 1300’s.

The Burg Eltz Castle