Lostin76

We sent our fifth foster cat out to it’s furever family yesterday. Adopter was a single guy who actually lives by my office in Manhattan. I could tell as soon as he saw the kitten that he was smitten. We’ve already got a few photo updates from him. Feels pretty good to help these cats find a good home and it requires so little of us, since we can work from home. It’s also reminded me of just how cool cats are. We had been cat-less for a few years after our last cat died of old age.

This is a travesty shaping up to be a tragedy. Massive failure in many countries, not just our own. We could have trained and mobilized people to assist in vaccinations, could have created policies and procedures to make sure vaccines are in people’s arms quickly, but no, we just dumped millions of vaccines on DOHs, hospitals, and clinics with no funding, planning, or support. We luckily did this in our hospital system (b/c we actually ully plan for things). Our front line staff were quickly vaccinated and now other employees are receiving.

Damn, man. That’s horrible. I am so sorry for you and your family.

Honestly, I feel like the best way to keep that stuff at bay is to stay active. Walk as much as you can and stand, move around as much as you can. At 52, I don’t really have any aches or regular pains and don’t take any medication. I think it’s a more active lifestyle that helps as my more sedentary friends of the same age are much heavier and have a lot of health issues.

Glad I’m not the only one. It can be really annoying!

How about tinnitus ? Anyone suffer from that? I know it’s from super loud concerts as a teenager and fronting a very loud and not very good metal band in my junior/senior years of high school. It’s really annoying when I try to fall asleep and can lead to a bit of irritability, but I’m already pretty irritable in daily life.

He LOVES it. Great video! I also have a soft spot for frosty faced dogs. Once they start getting that white/grey in their muzzle, I’m always telling my wife when we pass them, “That’s a good dog.”

We took the sub into the city on Saturday morning and I was out of breath from climbing the stairs. We used to do it every day no problem, but I was WORN OUT.

52 here and a couple of years ago I had a very similar nagging issue on my right ankle where it attached in front to my shin. Super painful, but I couldn’t really stop walking. At that point, we were still going into the office. So LOTS of walking to and from the sub every day and up stairs. I got to the point where I was dragging my foot. I finally went in and it was a similar thing - stay off your foot. So, I got crutches and every day did the 10 minute walk to the sub. Then up and down the subway stairs. Then another 10 minute walk from the sub to my office in Manhattan - on crutches. At the end of the day, it was the reverse. Crutches to the sub, then crutches back home in Brooklyn. I was signed up for the NYC Marathon that year and really worried that I wouldn’t be able to run it. I used the crutches for like six weeks and didn’t run or train at all. About a week before the marathon, my ankle was finally feeling better. I was able to stop using the crutches and walk normally. The day before the marathon I said f#*k it and decided I was going to run the marathon. I did fine until about mile 8. By mile 13, I didn’t think I could make it. By mile 18, I was still going b/c I’m stubborn, but I was having to take a couple of walking breaks. I was running the marathon with my wife and felt bad for holding her up, so told her to go ahead without me at mile 21. By mile 24 as I entered Central Park, I just said f*$k it again and took off running towards the finish. I couldn’t really feel my ankle or foot anymore anyway. Finished in like 4:30 and had to go back on crutches for another four weeks. Ended up being a torn lamination/stretched tendon issue. Now when I see someone limping I always feel very bad for them.

DUDE, are we twins? Harbeth HP5+ or La Scala’s are my absolute end goal in speakers. Harbeth if I end up with sold state amp and La Scala if I end up with tubes. Are you on the Steve Hoffman forums? The only reason I ask is if you mention Harbeth and La Scalas then you are obviously lost to the audiophile bug!

I will. I had also really been considering a new Yamaha AS-2200. Different look, but those view meters make me weak in the knees. Not sure how old you are, but this one screams 1970s to me.

Marantz and Parasound sounds good to me! At one point, I thought about trying to do a set up with a vintage Marantz receiver. They (along with Yamaha) just continue to crank out good two-channel audio. I liked the Peachtree b/c it sounded really nice for my small room and my wife liked the look of it. They are nice-looking amps. About two years ago I got a tube headphone amp to power my Audeze LCD-2 headphones and it really made me want to go all tubes for my setup. First pic is my Woo Audio (made here in Brooklyn) headphone amp and Audeze LCD-2 headphones, made in Cali. Second pic is the Rogue Audio that I’m in the process of ordering - they are made to order from Pennsylvania. It‘s a 55 pound chunk of metal and tubes! Not sure how long it will take to arrive, but I’m excited about it.

Now, you’re talking! I’m definitely into two channel audio. Nothing huge like @hoosier_exotics has posted. I wouldn’t last a day w/o being kicked out of our building with those two subs! My current setup is a Rega TT that’s pretty modded out, going into a Peachtree Class D amp, which feeds B&W speakers. I’m about to get a full tube amp that spits out a 100 watts (which is a lot for all tubes). I’ve also got a tube headphone amp that feeds three different sets of headphones depending on my mood. Besides beer and books, music is my big hobby. I’m at the “hiding albums from my wife stage at least once” a week phase.

Yeah, I’ve been seeing the whole delaying second doses talk. Not really liking that - it’s trying to solve a problem of availability that should have already been taken care of. Countries have had all this time to devise a vaccination strategy. And that strategy should not rely on overburdened and understaffed departments of health and CVS/Duane Reade drug stores. 28 days is good for the Moderna shot.

Hey Leather, they were tested for efficacy out to 21 days. Beyond that, they were not really tested or proven to give the 95% protection. Try to get it 19-21 days out if you can and not go longer - if possible. I got mine yesterday and they scheduled second dose exactly 19 days later - the 21st.

Not sure what to call it, but things are definitely trending in this way. Am not sure there is a way to go back to manufacturing and producing more locally, but I try like hell to support it. Local shops, restaurants, breweries are pretty much all we support. We are lucky enough to not have to go to chains - or even really see them. We try really hard to buy products made in the USA too - for clothing it’s really hard. Our bed linens (upstate NY) and kitchen bowls/plates (Asheville, NC) are all US made. It sounds corny, but we want the things that we use everyday to mean something AND put money back into a local economy. For audio gear, my headphones and headphone amp are both made entirely in the US. My phono amp - also made in the US. I’m about to drop a ton of cash on a new tube amp that’s made entirely in the US (Pennsylvania). We don’t buy books from Amazon, and instead support our local bookstores. Same with records. I also realize that our actions don’t amount to anything, but it’s important to try to spend our money locally or at least in the US. I know it’s easy to dismiss as Brooklyn hipster-ism but there’s a growing number of local companies that are producing on a fairly large scale out of the old Brooklyn Navy Yard. These are all new companies producing goods and employing local people. It’s damn important, but it needs support (tax breaks) from cities and states to get started. They don’t seem to have an issue handing huge tax breaks to big multinational companies that don’t even pay taxes. But that’s another rant. We’ve repeatedly said between the two of us that we are glad that we are not just starting out in the workforce. I’m afraid it will be difficult for today’s kids making their way in this new world. I also think today’s kids will figure it out, but I don’t have a lot of faith in politicians from either party to do the right thing. They seem to only care about amassing personal wealth while they bicker with each other. Sorry, that was long, but I feel really strongly about this. One of the smaller centers in the center I lead is focused on machine learning - I would not want to be a radiologist in the next five to ten years. Their jobs are going to go poof.

My wife got her first vaccine dose this morning, which is a relief, as she’s had a few lung surgeries in the last several years. I’ve been worried about her a bit, so nice to see an end in sight. I’m scheduled for mine on Sat morning.

We just got the text from our hospital system to schedule our vaccine appt. We will of course get it, but it’s a little frustrating that we (who are able to work from home) are getting it now just b/c we work at a big time university hospital and the people who are working in grocery stores and restaurants won’t get the opportunity to get it until it’s more widely available. Even then, they’ll have to wait in a line all day at a clinic to get it. I can just schedule it online and zip in and zip out.

I truly hope that “life is usual” works out for you and your loved ones. And I didn‘t add my usual snarky comment when I quoted you, b/c I know you’re just frustrated - like we all are. This year has just sucked for so many. Definitely underlying conditions involved for some of these folks. But that’t the thing - we can’t dismiss it b/c we are healthy as there are so many around us who are not healthy. And yes, GO IU! Am excited to have a game to watch (that we might actually win) tonight and a bowl game this weekend!

EDINBURG, Texas — Days after her Thanksgiving feast was prepared, served and eaten, Maribel Rodriguez tried to muster the will to unpack the tree, lights and decorations of boisterous Christmases past. Instead she found herself praying a rosary over the three wooden urns containing the ashes of her husband, her mother and an aunt, all of whom had shared a home with her. “My husband was the one who used to set up the tree and dressed up as Santa every year,” Ms. Rodriguez said in a rural section of Edinburg, Texas, her voice echoing around the hacienda-style home that is emptier now. “I can’t get myself to do it. I end up crying before I touch any of the ornaments.” Her husband, Domingo Davila, 65, tested positive for the coronavirus in September after undergoing a leg amputation. Within days, Ms. Rodriguez caught the virus, too, along with her mother, Maria Guadalupe Rodriguez, and aunt, Mirthala Ramirez. Ms. Rodriguez recovered but the others did not. In all, she has lost seven relatives to the virus since the pandemic took hold in the Rio Grande Valley. “This virus didn’t kill me,” she said, “but it sure took my life.” https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiT2OPkoPPtAhWStVkKHdBcBXIQFjAAegQIBRAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2020%2F12%2F24%2Fus%2Fcoronavirus-rio-grande-valley-texas.html&usg=AOvVaw3J1n2h53Zs-Ut3OEK0sk3N

Totally in agreement about extremists on both sides. Haven’t been, since I was an ignorant teenager, attracted to super far left media. I can’t watch any network TV news w/o retching.

I wouldn’t use something said by Bernie or AOC either if it’s any comfort. I agree with someone being ejected by a car not being counted as a COVID death, but I also agree with @Leathernecksabove about Florida underreporting. In the end, it simply does not matter to me the degree that we screwed the pooch on this. We. Screwed. The. Pooch. It’s insane that we as a nation can’t get our shit together and slow this down. But sure, let’s let crazy politicians try to undermine the effects of a deadly pandemic just to prop up our horrible record.

I popped back in here to say that I’m sorry if I came off harshly against you Fouls, that wasn’t my intent to attack the messenger. So, I’m sorry if I came off harshly against you, it was just the link you posted that was annoying. As far as media goes, maybe less media consumption is in order? I couldn’t watch CNN or MSNBC for more than a minute without throwing my TV or laptop out the window. They just want clicks and mindless eyeballs. Same with FOX and other networks. They are all desperate to keep you outraged and tuning in. Their livelihoods depend on it. They are rolling in our misery and attention like pigs in mud.

And I looked up the MN politician leading that effort in MN. He’s a fan of Dr. Zelenko apparently. Sure, that’s legit.

Sorry, I just clicked the link that you provided in your post. But I honestly don’t need to see anything else from that source. I can’t believe that it’s come to this that we will entertain links to stuff like this just to try to support our own beliefs about this horrible, messed up thing that we are all facing. How can we take sources like this seriously? I mean I read the New York Post and Daily News sometimes for the hahas, but it’s not actual news. Whatever happened to factchecking? I’m serious here. There’s a fascinating New Yorker pieces from a few years ago that details just how intense their fac-checking is. Do these weirdo sites even understand the concept? I see so many complaints about “the media,” but glomming onto complete trash websites like this is not helping matters.