[UPDATE] More Mask BS In the Media

See update below.


-sigh-


Study: Masks Help Against COVID, Some Better Than Others
A new study examining masks effectiveness in protecting against COVID-19 infection finds N95-style masks to be more effective than surgical masks or other cloth coverings, adding scientific backing to the argument masks do provide some level of protection.


Izzat so? Let’s look at the study.

The present study experimentally investigates the dispersion and build-up of an exhaled aerosol modeled with polydisperse microscopic particles (approximately 1 μm mean diameter) by a seated manikin in a relatively large indoor environment.
[…]
Nevertheless, high-efficiency masks, such as the KN95, still offer substantially higher apparent filtration efficiencies (60% and 46% for R95 and KN95 masks, respectively) than the more commonly used cloth (10%) and surgical masks (12%), and therefore are still the recommended choice in mitigating airborne disease transmission indoors.

Hmm. So the masks types are effective at filtering 1 micron test particles at these levels:

R95: 60%
KN95: 46%
Cloth (3-ply): 10%
Surgical: 12%

So the procedure/dust masks virtually everyone is wearing are very nearly ineffective. For 1 micron particles.

However SARS-CoV-2 averages 0.125 microns. That would be 0.125 into 1…

The SARS-CoV-2 virus is eight (8, ocho) times smaller than the 1 micron test particle. If your mask is only 12% effective against 1 micron, it’s probably around 1.5% effective against ChinCOVID.*

And frankly, the test was all wrong anyway. None of these masks are designed to protect other people from viral spread, at most they protect the wearer. That is what they were designed to do.


* Yes; since I’m an asshole, I did email the study author and point this out.

Update: And I got a reply from Professor Yarusevych. A rather eyebrow-raising one.

Thank you for your interest. There is no issue with the methodology. The selected particle size represents particles that follow air flow. They are 10 larger than a single virus, which means their volume is about 1000 times larger. Thus, such small particles can carry a significant number of viral copies. I hope this alleviates your concern.

Apparently he assumes that SARS-CoV-2 will only be aerosolized in relatively large aerosols; that there couldn’t possibly be more smaller aerosols, but carrying fewer viruses each.

Added: Let’s be fair. Is his 1 μm assumption valid? The Mechanism of Breath Aerosol Formation suggests an exhalation aerosol range of .5 μm to .9 μm. (Added: It’s worth mentioning that .5 μm was just the detection threshold of the detection equipment, and that smaller aerosols were likely present.)

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Not Quite, Gateway Pundit

Gateway Pundit is implying that Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) told a crowd to accept the 2020 election results. But that isn’t what he said.

Now, our choices are very simple. There are some people who are despondent about voter fraud and election theft in 2020. Folks, put that behind you. Put that behind you. (boos) Alright, well look back at it, but go forward and take advantage of it.”

I agree. Too damned many people out there think that if various audits conclusively prove fraud…

  • that Biden will be removed, and Trump installed, or
  • we get a do-over, and hold new elections now

Neither is going to happen. The United States Supreme Court has already ruled: No challenge to the results because the votes are already certified, and it is moot. It’s done. “Folks, put that behind you.”

The results ain’t changing.

What you do, if you’re still inclined to vote:

  • Push for audits, prove the fraud, and get the scumsuckers who pulled it off thrown in prison. (Looking at you, Raffensperger.)
  • Use anger over the fraud to oust the Dems.
  • Use anger over the fraud to make damned sure it never happens again. By any party.

“go forward and take advantage of it.”

I don’t see where Brooks is wrong.

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Don’t let him off so easily.

Reportedly the commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division, Maj. Gen. Christopher Donahue is an incompetent, cowardly political animal.


US general tells British special forces: Stop rescuing people in Kabul, you’re making us look bad
I understand that the commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division has told the commander of the British special forces at the Kabul airport to cease operations beyond the airport perimeter.

Maj. Gen. Christopher Donahue has told his British Army counterpart, a high-ranking field-grade officer of the British army’s 22nd Special Air Service Regiment, that British operations were embarrassing the United States military in the absence of similar U.S. military operations. I understand that the British officer firmly rejected the request.


PawPaw commented:

“If this report is true, (and I have no reason to suspect it is not), Major General “Dickhead” Donahue should be immediately relived and on the first plane out of the Theater of Operation.”

Oh, no. If true, MG Scumsucker should be relieved of command and escorted out the airport gates, to enjoy sunny, peaceful Afghanistan with the other trapped Americans.

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Since I got on the subject of stupid…

Yeah, it’s Stupidity Weekend. That, and yesterday’s job pitch, reminded me of another headhunter from several years ago.

I got an email that read like it was from an actual human. The pitch even started out sounding interesting: turning up new cell phone sites. It was actually a pretty good fit for my background. But it had two serious catches; real game enders.

First, the work was in Massachusetts. Nope.

Secondly, the job was as a contractor, not employee, and the pay was $25 an hour. That would have meant I was on the hook for self-employed federal and Mass income taxes. Out of a mere $25. It gets better.

Besides the usual use-your-own-vehicle-to-drive-all-over-the-state, they expected their contractor to provide all his own tools and test equipment. For what the job involved, and what gear was available back in the day, that would have been probably north of a hundred grand in gear; a whole lot more if you wanted top-of-the-line stuff (test equipment prices used to be insane).

So they expected someone on the hook for $100,000 to work for around $18 an hour. It might take a while to pay off that gear at that a rate. And that hourly rate didn’t apply to drive time between sites (remember: sites scattered across the state).

I declined.

Apparently, everyone else in the world felt the same way, because that guy kept after me for a week or two, trying to fill that position.

But, just once I did get suckered by a headhunter.

Back in the ’90s, I was contacted by a company called Volt-somethingorother. Volt Technical Services, I think (there’s a temp agency with a similar name still active, but maybe it shouldn’t be associated with the ’90s outfit).

That Volt was filling positions for a phone company out west. Instant red flag, because I knew the company’s CO and outside techs were on strike; I sure as hell didn’t want to be a scab, and get my truck trashed crossing picket lines. Nor suddenly be out of work again, if they signed a contract the day after I got there.

But no, Volt assured me. This job had nothing to do with the strike. The company had a massive network expansion going on, and they had a 60-90 day need for some extra network ops techs to do turn-up and provisioning, regardless of the strike. After some back and forth, I ended up taking the job.

The afternoon before I was going to load up my truck and drive across the country, I got a call from the phone company itself. My supervisor-to-be wanted let me know that the strike was over and they didn’t need me after all.

Wait. What?

It turns out the job that Volt pitched didn’t exist. Nor did the NOC in which I was supposedly going to work exist. I was actually unknowingly going out there as an outside tech scab.

That Volt lied.

Over the years, I’ve met some other techs who’d had the same experiences with that Volt, except those guys actually arrived at their — also nonexistent — work locations. One guy got stuck in… Houston, I think, getting bounced around from one job site to another every few days. It appeared that was a standard tactic for that Volt: Lie about a nonexistent, but great sounding job to get a tech to an area; then when he’s desperate for work, bounce him around on grungy day or week work vaguely related to his resume; stuff too short term to attract techs from across the country.

So, the current Volt? If you ain’t them, you might want to change your name to avoid that company’s nasty rep.

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So Much For the Grand 1/6 Conspiracy

The non Leftstream world sure noticed how the FBI is suddenly downplaying the whole “trump et al conspired to attack the Capitol and overthrow the government” line of BS.

Leftstream media? Not so much. Oh, I think they noticed but they aren’t talking about it. To extent that they mention it all for the past few days, they treat each case individually and never mention conspiracy anymore. I figure they got their marching orders from on high.

Why? I suspect it’s a couple of factors tied to a single point. I think, based the the use of CIs mentioned in court filings, that to the extent there was any significant “conspiracy,” it was an FBI conspiracy. This started causing a couple of problems.

First, administrative: I imagine that handful of CIs on the feddie payroll would have had too many scheduling conflicts for court appearances, if not enough people took plea deals.

“Sorry, your honor. CI 1 couldn’t make it today because he’s in Judge Smith’s court testifying.”

“How about September 4, at 11AM?”

“He’s scheduled in Judge Jones’ court that day.”

“October 8?”

“Judge Doe’s court.”

“July 15, 2022?!”

“Judge Smith’s court again.”

“For the love of god; is there any 1/6 defendant he did not conspire with?”

“Ummmm….”

The CIs’ hourly billing for all those appearances might break the FBI’s budget, too.

Secondly, the same fed-paid CIs showing up over and over would soon become pretty damned obvious to more than just the judges. Like juries. And the leftstream media would be stuck with explaining all those acquittals. And someone might start yelling, “Defund the FBI.” Besides me, that it.

The FBI’s usual “Hey, let’s entrap some gullible retard” routine works fine in small “terror” cases, scattered across the country. But trying it on a several hundred people in one place on one day has bitten the Feebs on the butt.

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The Stupidity is strong this weekend.

I think I’m going to have to shut down my computer very early today. So far, I’ve seen an idiot claiming the CDC still says that ChinCOVID primarily spreads as droplets, Orlando injecting cryo LOX into their water, and now…

Full-blown respirator-served isolation suits?! For hornet handling? Do they know something we don’t? And yet, further down in that same article…

Not so much as a beekeeper’s suit.

-sigh- I still feel obligated to continue checking my regular news feeds. Wish me — and humanity — luck.

More Stupidity: CBS: How climate change helped strengthen the Taliban (no link, to spare you the loss of IQ points)

Dear God: U.S. urges Americans to keep clear of Kabul airport as crowd chaos grows

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When Bureaucrats Don’t Talk To The Techs

Orlando, Florida is asking folks to stop watering their lawns (Why is anyone in Florida doing that? In my area… I haven’t watered the lawn in years.) The reason is pretty nutty.

A regional shortage of liquid oxygen linked to the surge of COVID-19 inpatient treatments is impacting OUC’s treated water supplies. To reduce demand for liquid oxygen, OUC is asking water customers to immediately limit irrigating their lawns and landscapes. If OUC’s liquid oxygen supplies continue to be depleted and water usage isn’t reduced, water quality may be impacted. But, we believe that will not happen if everyone does their part to conserve water.

How is liquid oxygen used in water treatment? I know about ozone, but LOX?

Ozone (liquid oxygen or LOX) is the strongest oxidizer available and reduces the amount of chlorine that must be added in the water treatment process. When LOX is added, the result is clean, fresh-tasting water with a sparkling appearance.

No, no, no. “LOX” Liquefied Oxygen is O2. Ozone is O3. They might be using LOX as feedstock for the ozone generator, but that’s very different from treating the water with LOX.

Two things come to mind.

  • Ozone — being rather toxic and corrosive — is used in very low concentrations to sterilize water. Just how LOX can they go through in a year?
  • Why the hell are they buying LOX from an off-site supplier? The big expense in ozone treat is the electricity used to convert O2 to ozone. I’d use an on-site oxygen concentrator for feedstock.

Oh, hell. Why are they using cryogenically chilled and compressed LOX at all? It’s done in rocketry because they need to squeeze a lot of oxidizer into a very small space for a very short time. It’s expensive.

I’ve never seen a hospital using LOX. They use pressurized gaseous O2.

If there’s an oxygen shortage, why not ask Cape Canaveral to delay one rocket launch and supply probably the entire state with all the O2 they need for a year?

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When HR Lets Bots Do Its Recruiting

I haven’t seen one of these in a while.

Got an email from an alleged headhunter by the alleged name of “Chandiran Murugan,: looking for a QC tech.

Note: Please allow me to reiterate that I chose to contact you either because your resume had been posted to one of the internet job sites to which we subscribe, or you had previously submitted your resume to Axelon. I assumed that you are either looking for a new employment opportunity, or you are interested in investigating the current job market.

I’ve never heard of his company, so I didn’t send them a resume. And I only recall posting on one website; I pulled that off a good decade ago. But it gets better.

Job Description:
QC Microbiology Cell Therapy Group is looking for an engaged, self-driven individual interested in performing microbiology testing to support facility start up activities of the cell therapy building located in Devens, MA.
Job Duties include but are not limited to:
Performing facility start up testing using conventional and computerized machines and work aids.
Testing includes but is not limited to: Environmental Monitoring, Process Air and CO2, and Water Sampling activities according to prescribed standard operation procedures (SOPs).
Duties also include set up, adjustment and operation of laboratory equipment and instruments.

If they have a copy of my resume, then it’s at least ten years out of date, but they still think I’m qualified enough to contact. For a Microbiology quality control tech.

Yes, I have a QC background. In electronics.

The last time I filled a specific QC slot was 1987. Nearly 4 decades ago. In telecommunications. This clearly bot scanning web-spidered doc for the keywords “quality control.”

Assuming I worked microbiology (my ChinCOVID posts don’t exactly count), and that I was looking for such work, note the location: Mass?

Not bloody likely. Many years ago, when I lived in New Hampshire, some headhunter dug up my phone number and offered me a job. In Mass. I turned him down very bluntly, explaining there’s no way in hell that I’d work in that state.

-sigh- “I was afraid of that. We hear that all the time. Do you know anyone who might be willing to work in Massachusetts?”

I did not.

But I haven’t even gotten to the punch line in this ham-handed recruiting attempt. Please note the job description.

facility start up testing
Process Air and CO2
Water Sampling
Collects, analyzes and reports sample results.
Tests samples to verify conformity to specifications.
Cleans and sterilizes laboratory equipment.

Fairly typical in-lab work. But I left something out until now.

“This role is currently work-from-home and will move to the office environment after the COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.”

Dumbass, poorly programmed bots. Methinks they ain’t gonna fill that position any time soon.

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Los Doyers?

Gonna call BS on this complaint.


New Dodgers Uniforms Strike Out With Latino Fans
The Los Angeles Dodgers released a special edition of their classic uniform in an effort to honor the city’s Latino community, but missed the mark for some.

The front of the special jersey unveiled for use this weekend reads “Los Dodgers,” while the accurate translation into Spanish would be “Los Doyers.”


Nope. In this case, “Dodgers” is a name, a proper noun, not just a word. If your were translating He is a drafter dodger into Spanish, doyer would be correct.*

But if you were introducing yourself, by name, to someone in Spanish — I am Mr. Smith — would you say Soy Senor Herrero? No, it would be Soy Senor Smith.

Ditto The Dodgers

Find something real to bitch about.


* Amusingly Bing translates standalone “dodger” into… Dodger. “Doyer” doesn’t translate at all.

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