Through the Taurids

Around Halloween every year we pass through the Taurid meteor stream the remnants of Comet Encke.

This image is a memorial to those we have lost through the ages.

While the World is In Quarantine What Defines Essential Services?! - Anderchin Cooper 360 Reports

 

In a world where everyone is stuck in quarantine there is a huge opportunity that is playing out at Valhalla as its calendar stays open as local food production is an Essential Service especially in these times...

 

We bring out the character Anderchin Cooper to tell the news and let you know we are back with HUGE plans for 2020 and lots of growth in our farm and movement afoot...

Minority Cats

Don't ban me bro

Beet Meme - Legalize Thought

THEY DON'T WANT WHAT WE WANT (AND THEY DON'T CARE) // LYRICS

Can you feel the hairs stand on the back of your neck?

Can you feel your heart beating right out of your chest? Panic!

There’s something strange going on in this room

The walls are melting

I can hear the ceiling screaming to come down

I can’t believe we built this room

It was meant to be a sanctuary, not a prison

There’s something strange going on in this house

It’s like we’re pushing all these buttons Trying to start a war amongst ourselves But we don’t know what we want

All we know is that we don’t want what they want

What we want

What they want

Can you feel the hairs stand on the back of your neck?

Can you feel your heart beating right out of your chest?

Can you feel your bones ache like there’s something within?

Can you feel your blood pumping inside of your skin?

Can you feel it?

Panic!

There’s something wrong with the castle they’re in

Watching over every single move that we make

Try to see past their perfect smiles

They were supposed to be protectors not o-fucking-ppressors

There’s something wrong with the way that they speak

Like the more they take from us the better off we’ll be

Anything to get power they seek

All I know they don’t want what we want

What we want

What they want

Can you feel the hairs stand on the back of your neck?

Can you feel your heart beating right out of your chest?

Can you feel your bones ache like there’s something within?

Can you feel your blood pumping inside of your skin?

Can you feel it?

Panic!

We don’t want what they want

They don’t want what we want

We don’t want what they want

And they don’t care

Panic!

Short answer: I don't care about your silly quibbling match, here is some science, decide for yourself or quit the under qualified quibbling.

If you have to put this into partisan context, you will, it is what partisans do. Either way you will be much better suited to continue the discussion while saving face, if you at least know about the small mountain of science on the subject over previous decades, better yet, read some of it.

Lets start at the beginning briefly.

The subject has been scrutinized for over a hundred years. As can be seen in this work.

History of Surgical Face Masks
The myths, the masks, and the men and women behind them
John L. Spooner

https://aornjournal.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1016/S0001-2092%2808%2971359-0


Bringing it back to now, this is a relatively balanced and new study into the issue on the CDC site. At least knowing the discussion points near the end is a good idea in the case of any plague.

"It is essential to note that the mechanisms of person-to-person transmission in the community have not been fully determined. Controversy remains over the role of transmission through fine-particle aerosols..."

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/5/19-0994_article


Moving on, here is a JSRM study in 2015 called "Unmasking the surgeons: the evidence base behind the use of facemasks in surgery". As well as many other related articles (note the Similar articles in PubMed section on the right and the healthy references list at the bottom, lots you could dig into from here).

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4480558/



So there you have it, all the science you can shake a stick at. If you really care about the issue, at least look through these a bit and know that there are many studies over previous decades on the subject.

All the videos and people you may see online, testing mask oxygen with meters, I will just call BS now, mostly anyway. You may find a few interesting details for R & D purposes, but the base premise is fallacy.

Just look at any altitude training or hiking guide with "Effective Oxygen %". Those meters are bleeping away at way higher rates than most Rocky Mountain folks can take at a jog. See this site with a good chart for perspective. A slightly higher elevation than Boulder, CO, for example would be bleeping away on some of those meters at 17% effective oxygen, flatlanders, sheesh.

 

http:// https://www.higherpeak.com/altitudechart.html


My take on the whole issue is that knowledge of the existing science can't hurt.

To the no mask folks I say, what if there is a time in the future that you need to know what actually works, now is as good a time as any to look into it. Even a person in Mad Max survival mode knows that, know your gear, support locals making good gear.

To the pro mask folks I say, be careful about false sense of security, it is a large point of vulnerability. Going out more often with shabby gear is hardly better than no mask by the science I see. In case of encroaching plague, know the science.

Conclusion:
Good portable gear can help in many scenarios, shabby gear can be counter productive. Consult your local techno steampunk mask designers with the references in this article for best results, buy local, be creative. Survival advice, though not medical advise.

In almost any case if you show me a cool new steam punk mask with detachable alternate intake/outtake options and washable inserts, I will be like cool, better safe than sorry. Yet pushing standard issue mask or no mask postulation does not interest me, the answer is somewhere in the middle, it should not be political.

If you care about the issue. Know the science, read up on it, know your gear, no fear.