Cyber Spies and the Coronavirus

Posted by: @pugwash

@robo-pi

The USA is about to become another Italy.

No way Jose!

The food in the States will NEVER be that good! ? ? ? 

You're right!  I graciously confess to being dead wrong!   No virus can help America to become as great as Italy. ? 

I just picked up my second pick-up order from Walmart.

NICE! NICE! NICE! 

I should have been doing this all along.   This is really nice.  No need to go inside and shop just pull up and they bring your order right out to you.   No need to go in and push a cart around the store and then check out, etc.   Just grab your order and go.   Saves about an hour on the shopping trip!  And it's a totally free service.

In any case, I'm all set now for my Corona virus hide-away. 👍   I shouldn't need to leave my home now for potentially 3 months or more. 😊 

Now all I need to worry about is my idiot cousin stopping in and bringing the virus to me.  He thinks he's invincible and that he can't even carry the virus or transmit it someone else.   With an attitude like that he's someone to avoid to be sure!

Oh well, fortunate he doesn't stop by very often.  Usually only when he needs to borrow a tool.

I'll just tell him to stay 6 feet away from and and I'll throw the tool at him. 🤣

I'll need to build a robot real quick so when he comes over I can have the robot answer the door.

I'll have to build one that looks really scary. 👍 

Maybe he'll go over to Auto Zone  and borrow their tools instead.  They actually do have a tool-borrowing program.  I don't know why he has to borrow my tools.  I'll have to tell him next time he comes over to go to Auto Zone instead. 😎 

And take his Corona virus with him. 🤣 

Even Nicer! Nicer! Nicer!  - Oh! probably not

We shop for our groceries on-line and they get delivered right inside our house. Mmm maybe thats not so good if they bring a virus too. 🤭 

Don't you have to worry about the postman, courier delivery white van man or the like?  Perhaps they are like some over here who just sling the parcel over the gate, fake a receipt signature and drive off at high speed.   

Posted by: @robo-pi

We'll program all our prose
with a thorn-less garden rose
and live a life of happiness
with no need to wear our clothes

Thats a vision too far, please put a loin cloth on. 🤮   And as your vision was to

Posted by: @robo-pi

go to heaven in the sky

you may meet up with an Rpi 3 I recently sent there by shorting its pins.  😇 

Posted by: @byron

Thats a vision too far, please put a loin cloth on.

No choice but to be naked
I know that it's a crime
but loin cloth and roses
simply don't rhyme

No worries or fears
the planet's forbidden
no neighbors to see us
no need to be hidden

Besides, it's okay
in the Garden of Eden
And really no different
from living in Sweden

All of our children
will be naked and spry
until they grow old
to whither and die

It's all just illusion
a software delusion
a poetic expression
creating confusion

What better way to spend the day
on the eve of world destruction?
Just write a dream with a fantasy theme
that's riddled with seduction

Posted by: @byron

you may meet up with an Rpi 3 I recently sent there by shorting its pins.

I'll tell it you said, "Hi." 👍 

@robo-pi

Posted by: @robo-pi

Since you like messages and don't want to shoot the messenger I would like to share a message with you.  You can draw from this video anything you so desire.  Just for the record, I see this video as being far more realistic.  It also suggests that this Covid-19 virus isn't likely to be the last bio-hazard we encounter.  Instead of hanging Bill Gates, we'd be far better off addressing the real source of the problem.  Just my opinion for whatever it might be worth,

Ah... the good ol 60 mins! 🙂
Yeah, no one really knows what will happen... there are too many conspiracy theories flying around, but better to be prepared than not in these uncertain times!

@robo-pi

You're right!  I graciously confess to being dead wrong!   No virus can help America to become as great as Italy. ? 

Don't get me wrong, you CAN get very good food in the States. I once ate at a restaurant you may know, Atius on Grandveiw Ave. in Pittsburg. Food was very good but phenomenally expensive compared to Europe. And what they charged for a bottle of wine, bordered on organised crime!

We were definitely being charged for the view 😎 

Posted by: @frogandtoad

Yeah, no one really knows what will happen... there are too many conspiracy theories flying around, but better to be prepared than not in these uncertain times!

Prepared for what?

How is buying into a conspiracy theory that Bill Gates is the head of a planetary mass murder scheme going to help you prepare for anything?

Any biologist will tell you there is a 99.9999% chance that the wet market explanation is more likely then the Bill Gates planetary mass murder conspiracy theory.

If you want to do something to protect yourself from future deadly viruses become and activist to have wet markets shut down.  Spreading conspiracy theories that Bill Gates is a planetary mass murderer isn't likely to help anyone other than possibly some comedy shows that are hard up for comedic material.

Posted by: @pugwash

I once ate at a restaurant you may know, Atius on Grandveiw Ave. in Pittsburg.

I was born and raised in Pittsburgh PA.  I know the restaurant well.   Not that I ate there a lot.  But it is a place to take a woman you want to impress.   A woman who's worth a month's pay to take to dinner. 🤣 

Back in a day I used to do such foolish things.  Now I eat hamburger and baked beans made at home.  With a 10 cent side-dish of oodles of noodles.  No women to impress, no check to acquiesce, I eat alone, on my own, with a heart that's in distress.

@robo-pi

Just got back from an inspection at a company with a confirmed case of the Corona Virus.

The guy picked it up on a skiing holiday in the Alps. Just shows how close this virus can be.

Been washing and disinfecting my hands like a madman today! Now all I can do is wait!

@pugwash

I hope you didn't get it!    This is serious stuff.  Especially for those of us who are elderly and potentially already have medical issues.   I don't mean to be an alarmist, but in the USA testing if far behind the reality of the situation.  The virus is completely invisible, apparently extremely contagious, and those who don't even yet have symptoms can spread it.  We only need to contact one other person who has it and that could be enough to get it.

I made a doctor's appointment for today.  I'm getting some COPD meds, and a pneumonia vaccination.    They say it's not the corona virus that kills you, but rather when you contract that corona virus you have a high likelihood of also contracting pneumonia which ultimately does you in.

Unfortunately I was late in thinking about this, so I'm filled with terror that I have to go into the doctor's office at all.   Personally I think that's a very likely place to pick up the virus.   After all, he's been seeing sick people all week at the hospital and this morning in his office.  I could actually be going out to pick the virus up myself.   I wish I would have thought of this earlier!

The good thing is that this is a really small office.  There isn't likely to be very many people there.   So if I don't get it from the doctor or nurse, I'll escape with my life in tact. 😊 

But then I'll need to go over to the Walmart pharmacy to pick up the prescriptions.  So I'll have to go in there today too.  I don't think they use the pick-up service for the pharmacy.  Although I am going to call and see if that's possible.

Once I get this pneumonia shot and my COPD meds, I'll be done with the outside world.  I'll be able to just stay home then for months on end if necessary.  I'll only need to worry about anyone who might stop by to visit at that point.  But that's a rare occurrence for me.   So if I make it through today without contracting the virus I should be good to go for the next few months.

Best of luck Steve!  Hope you weren't contaminated today.   They claim that we shouldn't panic and that things aren't as bad as we imagine.  Let's hope that's true. 

Just the same, I really don't want to go to the doctor's office today.   But at the same time I really DO want the pneumonia shot and the COPD meds.   So I'll have to bite the bullet and take the risk.  I'll grab those today, and then begin my hide away. 😎 

See you next fall when this will all be over, hopefully!

@robo-pi

Luckily I suppose, the guy was quarantined at home for the last two days, and my contact assured me that he did not have any contact with the infected person, as he worked in another department. So I feel quite safe!

We'll be painting crosses in blood on our doors soon! Think of Australia, this has now got to biblical proportions there, first the fires, then the floods, now the virus, what next? Locusts!

When you go to the Doc, get him to come out to the parking lot to give your shots! Even without a contagious virus on the loose, the first place you can get ill is the Doctors waiting room!

Tell your cousin to keep his distance!

Good luck with you expedition and a safe return to your Happy Hermit Hideaway 🤣 

Then, the only thing you have to worry about is STDs.

"What!" you say, "I'm long past that, I have no distress with a mistress!"

I'm talking about "Serially Transmitted Diseases" of course! The sort you can get over WLAN and the Internet! 🤣 🤣 🤣 

Posted by: @pugwash

Tell your cousin to keep his distance!

I absolutely will.   Although he doesn't come around very often anyway.  Usually just when something breaks and he needs me to fix it.

But I'll just tell him to drop it off at the end of the driveway and I'll get back to him when its repaired. 🤣

Posted by: @pugwash

I'm talking about "Serially Transmitted Diseases" of course! The sort you can get over WLAN and the Internet! 🤣 🤣 🤣 

I know, it's horrible.  We'll have to make a new rule.  Only one person posting at a time please.  Try to keep your posts at least a couple meters apart.   And any attachments must be disinfected by the CDC before they can be attached.  Download them at your own risk.

Back from the doctor's office already.   Had the pneumonia shot.  The place was empty when I got there.  No one in the waiting room and they took me in almost immediately.   I avoided touching any surfaces and door knobs.  But the doctor did shake my hand.  I told him we aren't supposed to do that and we should be using elbow bumps.  He laughed.

Actually I think we are fairly safe in this particular location for the time being.  But I don't think that's going to last.  I live in rural Pennsylvania midway between Pittsburgh and Erie.   But before long Pittsburgh and Erie are going to become contaminated with corona virus and when that happens everyone is going to be running from the city bringing the virus up here to their resort camps.   So I think a person would need to be extremely naive to think that it won't be here very shortly.

Again, not to be an alarmist, but what the heck.  Just look around the globe.  It wasn't all that long ago that it was "just in China".   And now it's a global pandemic.   And the USA is becoming another Italy (minus the good food 😊 ). 

So yep, don't panic.   But to not be prepared would be equally foolish.

I have one more dangerous trip to make to the Walmart pharmacy to pick up the meds.  I might even live extremely dangerously and grab a sandwich from the deli.   I'm hungry.

What do you think?  Should I play with fire here?  Or would that be a foolish risk? 

I'm headed off to Walmart now.   So we'll see what happens.  I have to get the meds at least.   It's probably safe to buy a sandwich too, but wouldn't that be a bummer if that was the break in my safety chain?

One mistake and the whole thing collapses like a house of cards.

Back from Walmart,...

The Bad News:

I was totally reckless and bought the deli sandwich.  Shame on me! I also bought a cup of chicken nuggets so I'm living dangerously today!  Everyone in the store was behaving perfectly normally as if there was no threat or concern at all.   This gave me a false sense of security.   After all, if everyone is just acting normal there must be no eminent threat right?   Actually I don't think it works that way.   I did grab a few of their anti-bacterial wipes when I walked in the door and pretty much used those to isolate me from everything I touched, including the touchscreen at the checkout counter.   Am I being overly paranoid?   And what good will it do if the person who made my deli sandwich is a 3rd degree corona infection? 🤣 

The Good News:

My prescriptions only came to $20.17.  Can you believe it?  I was expecting it to be more like $120.17.

You know what this means?

I can buy another Jetson Nano with the money I saved on meds.  Yippee! 👍 

The Strange News:

When I got home there was a message on the message machine.  It was the doctor's office calling to say that there is an issue with the pneumonia vaccine I just got and that I should call them back.  So I called them back but they were CLOSED!  Yikes!  Now I won't be able to call them until tomorrow.

They'll probably tell me that they made a mistake and instead of shooting me up with a pneumonia vaccine they accidentally gave me a shot of corona virus they were studying. 😮 

Now I'll have nightmares all night until I can call them tomorrow and see what's up.