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Showing posts from February, 2020

And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all

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Tom Steyer out

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Spent about 11 kabillion dollars in South Carolina to provide wings for virtually the entire population.  Everybody gorged on his wings like it was a farewell party.  Which it was.  Average cost per primary vote:  7 wings + $485.

Which side do you want to get hit from?

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West coast?  East coast?  Both less than a three-hour flight distant. You may want to get an extra set of hands to wash.

Suppose Estes Park had to evacuate all the residents

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from the assisted living wing of Good Samaritan, or everyone currently housed in the Living Center.  Ask yourself.  If some of these individuals had symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection, where would we move them?  If some of these individuals had no symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection, where would we move them? better read this Seattle has evacuation centers and quarantine facilities and, at the very least, empty beds in still-uninfected zones.  Does Estes Park?

Requisite reading

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Another well-written and informative article you need to place on your "to read" list. Read this'a here, especially the part about "containment"

Life Care, a long term care facility in Washington

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Is FUBAR.  Both health care workers and residents are reporting symptoms and/or are currently hospitalized, in one case in critical condition.  This is being referred to as a localized, contained outbreak, but nevertheless, those health care workers don't live at the facility, don't spend 24 hours a day at the facility, and so their families, neighbors, and anyone they interacted with in the past week are at risk.  Potentially more than 200 cases will be confirmed in Seattle by the end of next week.  (This is a prediction only.). Despite this, the state director of Public Health indicates they are not currently considering shutting down large venues.  Because this is America, and we don't value anything more than American liv...sorry, American money.

No more kissing. Do you understand?

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People in Estes Park need to simmer down on the constant kissing.  And also stop gathering in groups of 5000 or more.  Safeway, you are on notice.  Get some more check-out clerks.  Open up more check-out lanes.  Or just make everything self-serve with IOUs.  Let's be more like our counterparts across the Atlantic.

The U.S. has now joined 9 other countries

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In reporting a death due to COVID-19 O Brave New World/That has such people in't

Take a deep breath (while you can) and read this

Read this to the very end In its entirety.  This guy is just like you and me.  One day at a time.  Not panicked, not in the least panicked.  Probably bored.  I mean, it's Omaha, right?

Until we get a batter one

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Which will be never, as Colorado is not listening, plus indifferent - This map will have to do.  New cases in the state of Washington overnight.  So when our ER says "they are asking the right questions", the list of questions will have to expand to "Have you come across or interacted with any other human in the last 14 days, or are you in fact a lone weasel living in a hole?" I told someone on Wednesday that Estes Park would see its first case in three weeks.  Not that we wouldn't have SARS-CoV-2 circulating prior to that, just that it would take that long before the first test-confirmed case, both because it takes a while from infection to manifestation of symptoms, and because the test kits Colorado has been provided (if they have yet to be provided any, Colorado isn't saying) have to be confirmed by Atlanta, or another approved laboratory outside of Colorado.  New York has tired of waiting for the CDC to provide better primers for RT-PCR, and is desi

Hospitals in Iowa have been preparing for a month

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Plus they have negative pressure isolation rooms, to prevent the spread of aerosols.  Estes Park Health still has an ER decontamination unit on its wish list.  And it has zero negative-pressure rooms. Iowa is one state removed from Colorado.  But you knew that, right?

Italy has a population of 60 million

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And currently, just over 800 confirmed cases of COVID-19.  So at the point around 1/10,000 of the Italian population became infected with SARS-CoV-2, Italian hospitals, according to this report, were "overwhelmed".  Estes Park has a population of 6500 in the winter.  Our local hospital has staffing for 15 beds.  Using the Italian fraction, our hospital will be overwhelmed by one case.  Our local newspapers will probably not alert us to the fact that Estes Park has one positive among its population until weeks after the fact, but just drive past the hospital every day, and look for the overwhelmingness. Let's be extra, extra careful out there. 

See this map?

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Does Colorado have any IT folks who can create a similar heat map for Colorado, or are we just going to rely on outsiders to provide us our news, as we always do?  On that map, you can click on every dot and see number of cases, number of active cases, number of recovered cases.  C'mon, Colorado, I know we can pull together and do it.  It's easy.  You just have to admit that coronavirus is real, and you have to forgot all those other times when you said "Oh, we've got a plan for that" and really didn't but didn't get exposed for not having a real plan because you didn't have to execute the buzz words you typed on a page.  Focus.  This is not a drill.

My geography is a little shaky, but isn't Utah

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right next to Colorado?  This is likely one of the Utah passengers from the Diamond Princess, meaning COVID-19 was not contracted in Utah.  But note how Utah newspapers keep their public informed.  In contrast, to, say, oh, I don't know, No-see-rado.

Let's be like Oregon

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For example, here is how Oregon responded to its first presumptive laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 case today.  They have already formed a state task force, and they are providing frequent updates.  In fact, they were providing frequent updates prior to confirmation of this first case. In contrast, Colorado newspapers are not updating the state on how many people have been tested, how many people have been asked to self-isolate, how many of those tests have come back negative, and how many of those tests have come back positive.  I'm guessing, based on the assumption that there is at least one responsible Colorado newspaper, radio or television station out there, the last answer, thus far, is zero, but I sure would be reassured if some Colorado news provider confirmed this.  Like today.  Like now.  Hmmm.  I certainly wouldn't recommend holding your breath until receiving this answer.

Rather than going down the rabbit hole

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of trying to determine how many countries there are on planet Earth, let's just say somewhere between 194 and 206.  As of today, 28 February 2020, 61 of these countries reported at least one person among its populace infected with SARS-CoV-2. That is 30% to 31% of the countries officially recognized by some governing body (like the United Nations or the International Olympic Committee).  Not a majority, but certainly nothing to sneeze at. At some point, the W.H.O. needs to call this a pandemic.  Not because I said so, not because 30% of the nations on this earth said so, but because it seems like a silly game to keep denying something on a technicality.  A pandemic doesn't mean "instant death" - You can have a pandemic of obesity, or a pandemic of people wasting their time playing video games, or looking for "Chuck Cunningham" on TMZ. Clearly, in this particular case, COVID-19 doesn't mean instant death.  In an open society with adequate medical

Okay, first off

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Who names these things?  Second, where is the "Butcher's Delight" on the above list? And third, ain't nobody calling this the "Toothbrush", and anyone sporting a Hit- sorry "Toothbrush" should be smothered, not respirated.

Another Estes Park luminary gone

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Clive Cussler lived for a time just outside Estes Park (near Meadowdale Ranch) while writing "Iceberg" and later working for an advertising firm in Denver (Hull/Mefford).  His children went to school here.  I doubt very much if there will be a memorial where people share stories of how he stole the idea for "Raise the Titanic" from mining accounts appearing in early Colorado newspapers.

The lesson here, kids, is

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DON'T STEAL A GERMAN BREWERY.  You will come to regret it. (To see more of this story,  click here )

Da Plot Thickens

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So if any of this information is accurate - 80-year-old female with initials "S.O." living in or near Estes Park, it shouldn't be difficult to examine voter registration rolls and discover a likely candidate.  Anybody with this type of 'burn through" money isn't going to be a ghost presence in the community.

Let me introduce you to a voter in the upcoming town board election

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Three candidates for trustee have since included "a free Mercedes Benz in every garage" in their campaign promises

Trump is in Colorado Springs

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Only Trump could get away with telling a story about Texas in Colorado Jumping up and down on the Betocrats

Lest you were confused

that Scott Schneider and the Carriage Hills coven were bent on removing every person who disagrees with them from a position of power (expending town funds on same), until no individuals remained to serve save Scott Schneider and his wife, feast your eyes on the following: Dear Carly, In full disclosure, I want to share that I do not live in town limits so can’t vote for any town specific elections.  I do live in Larimer County – in Carriage Hills so am greatly impacted by town decisions, especially those that also include (or exclude) county planning.  I could consider the recent decision (or non-decision as it might be) related to the IGA between the town and county related to planning to fall in this latter category.  Town trustees decisions impacts many.  Also – I have not nor will I post an “opinion” article in the T-G.  It seems strange (or maybe coincidental) that very soon AFTER the town announced the decision related to ending the agreement with the county related t

BTW, Roger Stone just got 3 years and 4 months

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Double stuffed the double wide In other Florida news, a guy living in a trailer house in Estero (south of Fort Myers) attempted to microwave an entire package of Oreo cookies without removing them from the wrapper.  Fire ensued. Note the rifle (with scope) or jazzed-up airgun in the DIY "holster".  I realize one of the amendments to the U.S. Constitution grants everyone the right to keep and bear arms, but maybe an exception should be made for those few remaining individuals living in trailer parks who haven't yet learned how to safely operate a microwave.

Of course they are sitting empty

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This is what a hotel charging $400/night should look like "But look how expensive they are.  If they ever did reach 5% occupancy, we could be millionaires."  Said the guy who charged $500/night for his Super8, AKA future head of the Estes Chamber. See, we're just not doing this right.  We should be charging $1000 per room and striving for an occupancy rate of 0%.  Less work, more money.  Don't need to hire any housekeeping staff.  We want a year-round economy charging summer rates.  Boulder, meanwhile, charges less, fills more rooms, and actually takes more to the actual bank, rather than the imaginarium.  So Estes illiterati, one simple question:  Howz that been working for ya thus far?

Bill Pinkham likes cake

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Most people don't eat cake at board meetings, but those who do rarely require eight minutes to do so https://vimeo.com/387992563 For those who would like to see Bill Pinkham eat cake, a painfully slow video consumption of same is provided by a recording of the latest hospital board get-together (hooray, three of the five board members bothered to attend), time frame 9:00 to 17:00 on the counter.

I knew trust wasn't feeling well, but

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I had no idea trust had died.  23 minutes ago.  On my mark - 2:12 p.m. MST

Better make coursework available online

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The thing about Svengali, or John Derek, for that matter, is that he didn't look like a out-of-work dump-truck driving bullethead Duke University (neighboring campus to the "Silent Sam" controversy) is going to have to start making those "How to Avoid" classes available to a much wider audience.  Here's a guy who skirted prostitution stings, essentially ran a tank over prostitution stings, by forcing his daughter's classmates at Sarah Lawrence INTO PROSTITUTION.  I'm not sure how many levels this is disturbing on (under, into).  (1) Look at this guy, seriously, take a really close look, and ask yourself:  "What is it about Sarah Lawrence that would allow this guy to gain the confidence of his daughter's classmates, let alone ANY female college student? (2) What it is about Sarah Lawrence that the administration tolerates fathers of students MOVING INTO their child's dorm rooms?  (3) What is it about Sarah Lawrence that this ridicu

Pick the winner

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Of some recent prestigious worldwide wildlife photography contest.  (Note:  The key word to ignore here is "wildlife".) A B C D E Exactly, E.  Two mice fighting over trash-food someone left on a subway platform.  Something you rarely see in nature, yet have always wished to see.  Mice.  In a subway.  Scrapping.  The first rule of Mouse Fight Club is:  There is no Mouse Fight Club.  Hence the "Ultima Thulish" accolades and praises heaped on this photograph.  Or something. Oh, the joys of wilderness unbeknownst to country folk, and the unfailing genius of panels of experts chosen to jury submitted works in this or that competition.  The maudlin Bjork-athon "Dancer in the Dark" won the Palme d'Or at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, naturally, and "Two Mice Fighting" catapults a guy who LAYS DOWN ON SUBWAY PLATFORMS TO PHOTOGRAPH MICE into the stratosphere of Ansel Adams and David Muench.  As it should be.  Amen.

Only a matter of time

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I'll see your prostitution sting and raise you a child sex crime sting Oh, those institutions of higher learning.  Just when you thought Duke was doing enough with its "How to avoid getting caught in a prostitution sting" course, along comes another southerner to blow that tiny boat out of the water.  Now there will have to be an entire academic major devoted to avoiding things only preverts and swamp folk used to unapologetically engage in (with, under).

In related news

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Proud father of six and self-proclaimed "family man" Duke University began offering a "How not to get caught in a prostitution sting" course for those interested in becoming school administrators...

Letter to an editor

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One of the problems with finding candidates to run for various boards in Estes Park is that the board of directors has to actually publish a notice in the newspaper that an election is upcoming.   Note that the Rec Board has already published a notice in the newspaper.  The Estes Park Health board, as far as I can find in the recent newspapers, has not.   Given that the deadline for filing as a candidate is soon to arrive for the Estes Park Health board of directors (attached), it would seem the newspaper should, once again, remind them there is an election coming up, and they are responsible for publicizing it (unless they don't want any competition).

Apparently not a big fan of the "whiny brat" Jews

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So the pool of possibilities has been reduced from 5 to 4

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Check today's local newspaper advertisements to see what I'm referring to Thanks. Our limited interaction (my three emails to your one) indicates you are too busy getting endorsements to address potential constituents concerns or questions. I'm going to vote for other candidates for trustee, and don't want to waste more of your time.

In case you were done remembering

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Here are the results for the board of trustee election held in April 2018. The top three below the three who did make it are running again, along with incumbent Patrick Martchink and newcomer (Wendy enrollee) Cindy Younglund.  I doubt if the order of finish is much different this time, although calls for a board "newcomer" and the push for more female representation may see Barbara and Cindy perform better than expected.

Here's to Estes Park resident Keith Goudy

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https://www.theredstonerocket.com/news/article_9e8c655e-488c-11ea-9987-8341828d4280.html

Prepare for the wurst

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Redacted because this person wishes to remain anonymous Transcription:  When...Dick Spielman first bought a lot in the Crags Subdivision, he wanted an exception to the HOA to bring in a modular home.  Naturally it was rejected.  He was pissed.  I recall that I used to go to all of the Art Center and Museum openings, as we were members.  He didn't go, but his wife did.  I doubt if they even belonged.  Anyway, she always brought a Tupperware containers [sic] to take food home for Dick.  How tacky is that! IGA lovers:  This is your future.  A return to mobile homes in town, when Mr. Spielman gets his way.  And I guarantee Mr. Spielman rants and raves and threatens until HE GETS HIS WAY. Note:  I actually have no problems with mobile homes.  I think it would be a great way to solve the "crisis-level" housing shortage.

Forsooth

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Pot, meet kettle I have no idea how your feel about the IGA and continuing the 20-year joint planning commission experiment, but I overheard a lot of people at the information session tonight saying "Don't worry about this, when Wendy gets elected this will all be reversed." So that is why there wasn't a bunch of anger overflowing at tonight's information session, because they are planning to have Wendy reverse it once she gets elected.  If form holds, Carlie and Marie will continue voting to end the 20-year IGA (plus Patrick if he gets re-elected) but I think the "test" for "the closet illuminati" and "those who cannot be questioned" to determine who deserves sitting on the board of trustees will be "How quickly will you agree to remove what Todd put in place and go back to what we've had for the past 20 years?". Obviously, Ward Nelson is a Wendy sycophant, Scott Webermeier hates Todd, and Cindy Younglund w