[ExI] forward from another list

Tue Mar 17 14:58:14 UTC 2020

Cletus Nerd of Oregon wrote all the following:

1) Your Oregon lurker here.  Online meetings will be interesting, though my locked-down Linux systems might not be able to run the apps, and I don't connect cameras to my computer, so in effect I shall continue to lurk.

2) We "hoard" toilet paper anyway - we have a filled cabinet above each toilet, which we endeavor to refill when the cabinet is six rolls short.  Since we forget, it is often ten rolls short, and we try to keep enough TP in our storage area to do so.  Possible/practical in Oregon; a Bay Area apartment/condo/tinyhouse doesn't have enough room.

3) Hoarding a few disinfecting wipe packages makes sense with stores running out and scalpers rampant, but I was unable to find a six month supply before the stores did

run out.   I hope most wipes ended up with people who

are diligently trying to NOT get sick and infect me.

Fortunately, we have a gallon of "Simple Green d pro 5"

disinfectant, purchased last year "just because".  The ingredients are IDENTICAL to our disinfectant wipes. 

Our plan is to save the used wipes and wash them in the clothes washer (they seem durable), then soak them in the Simple Green disinfectant and re-use them.  Though we paid less last year, the disinfectant is still $25 per gallon from Amazon. 

We use the wipes to disinfect Amazon packages and their contents.  Amazon HQ is co-located with coronavirus in Washington State; this might not be a coincidence.  

Disinfecting the Amazon box and the disinfectant bottle inside the box with the disinfectant inside the bottle presents an interesting topological/causality problem. 

If you can solve that, let me know.

4) Many of our preparations were general, made years ago.

In 2015, we bought ten boxes of 3M N95 masks (50 per box) at the nearby Habitat for Humanity ReStore, $10 per box, thus 20 cents each.  They are selling for $7 to $15 each on eBay now.  We gave almost all of them away to senior centers and libraries during the forest fires over the last two summers;  we have only a few left. 

If we had bought ALL the N95 masks at the ReStore in 2015 (about 100 boxes) and sold them on eBay now, we could pay off most of our remaining mortgage.  Alternately, murdered in our sleep by thieves.

5) I installed a "D200" UVC lamp (2 bulb, 254nm, 14 watts UV output) in our air-conditioner return duct.  If you own your house/condo, or can convince your apartment landlord that you are capable of sheet metal work, this might be a good way to protect yourself from infectious neighbors. 

About $110 from Amazon.  I also purchased extra lamps and some sheet metal tools.  I installed ours with #8 machine screw insert nuts rather than the supplied sheet metal screws.  This took longer to install, but with thumb-screws it will be easier to replace the bulbs annually, and we won't wear out the screw-holes in the sheet metal.

6) Many other preparations, most of which I will not share with Cthulu-knows-who on this list, beyond suggesting that aspiring miscreants should be bulletproof and have a low infrared signature.  If the next plague is ice zombies, we're screwed.

Cletus Nerd

1313 SW Taylor 

Portland OR 97205

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