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This is the best yet, done at 830. We had 35 wheels to sign. We normally would have 132. Our ridership is down 95%. As my Mother would say, crimeny.
So it is a most excellent day out. A bit chilly, but it's supposed to warm up into the 70s. I keep saying I'm gonna wash the car, maybe I'll get to that today. Even after all the rain we've had this winter, I still have to wait until after 4pm to use water outside. Because we're in a drought they say. Twits.
Jamesbo I hope that's Elsie you got in that box.
Okay gotta find something [I want] to do. Have a good morning everyone.
I knew that had to be asked, and I like the answer! Norm, thanks for the info. Hopefully they can create a vaccine to protect us fro this crap. I was surprised to hear from the pain clinic this a.m., they called to re schedule my cancelled April 1st appt. I thought that it would be a few more weeks before that happened. I go in tomorrow for the rhizotomy. And, I can't wait, as my back has been killing me. A face mask will be required when I get there. (b.y.o.f.m.).
I knew that had to be asked, and I like the answer! Norm, thanks for the info. Hopefully they can create a vaccine to protect us fro this crap. I was surprised to hear from the pain clinic this a.m., they called to re schedule my cancelled April 1st appt. I thought that it would be a few more weeks before that happened. I go in tomorrow for the rhizotomy. And, I can't wait, as my back has been killing me. A face mask will be required when I get there. (b.y.o.f.m.).
Regarding a vaccine. I've been following several manufacturer's efforts. J&J just made a HUGE (yet risky) announcement.
Norm is that 600-800m different vaccines or that many doses available? The link only gave me one paragraph and that answer was not in it. When they make a vaccine, how does it come, by the gallon? No that's a serious question. How much gets made at once?
Jamesbo that answer was too obvious for me to pick up on. I would probably eat that sandwich and then go change my shirt. How'd you do up at the lake with that storm?
Dan that means things are picking up. I hope other things follow. And I really hope your procedure helps you.
Puttered around at the shop a little while, now I can't decide if I want to mow or wash the car. The driveway is in the hot sun now I don't want to bake soapy water onto the paint. It's beautiful out maybe Tiger and I will just go out and play.
Mike - Honestly, I have never been involved w/ the production of a vaccine or elicitation of the genomic sequence of any virus. My previous work with DNA & RNA sequencing & manipulation of DNA & RNA involved bacteria. I understand the basics of development of a vaccine, but I can't answer your question directly. I believe all viral vaccines are developed from avian egg yolks as I recall. It takes significant time to development and grow the antigen (vaccine). Antigen is the correct term since it is the antigen (foreign substance) which is infecting the organism - in this case a human. You want your immune system to develop antibodies towards the antigen. If you do not have antibodies towards the antigen, the antigen will likely infect you & cause illness (at this point we can call the antigen pathogenic - i.e. it causes a condition (in this case the antigen infects the lungs, the immune system attempts to fight the antigen by developing an immune response). If you have no antibodies directed towards the antigen, you will in the case of COVID-19 and generally all antigens for which you have no antibodies to develop a response initiate a cytokine storm where the immune system builds up enormous amounts of inherit cytokines to fight the antigen. It's essentially what is killing most of the patients w/ COVID-19. The immune system doesn't recognize the SARS-CoV-2 virus (antigen) and the cytokines develop this enormous response to flush the virus from the lungs. This is the wavy gravy place no one wants to be because as the result of developing this cytokine storm, bacteria in the lungs will begin to grow and novel forms of pneumonia will occur. This is the manner in which this SARS-CoV-2 was initially determined to be a novel virus - e.g. they hadn't seen this species of pneumonia previously and they began questioning what this antigen (virus) could be. I realize this is long-winded - but follow just a tad more.
To assist the organism (human) in developing a response to the antigen (virus) for which the organism (human) has no antibodies to fight the infection, we are developing a vaccine. There are numerous ways to create the vaccine e.g. through antibodies harvested from known infected individuals who have recovered or by reverse engineering the known genetic sequence (RNA) of the antigen (virus). In the current case of COVID-19, researchers have taken the original SARS-CoV-1 virus, and changed a portion of the genetic sequence of SARS-CoV-1 to hopefully mimic the (cleavage) site where SARS-CoV-2 is entering the human cells at the ACE-2 enzyme.
The production of the vaccine (again, I believe all virus vaccines are grown on avian egg yolks) progresses to the growth of a "live" viral soup we'll call it. They infect a gazillion avian eggs w/ the virus & harvest a gazillion avian eggs, harvest the live viral soup in large decanters under absolute sterile conditions, then proceed to essentially filter the virus from the soup. At this stage you can say they have created gallons of the soup but it's worthless without first ascertaining what the effective dose is required to render the vaccine effective to illicit a known immune response in the organism (human). The next stage is tricky and this is where they are currently deciding on what will be the type of vaccine, how it will be delivered, and any conjugates or adjuvants required to increase the immune response. Having reached this stage, they have made a determination as to whether the vaccine is a "live" vaccine or a "dead" vaccine. Either will suffice, but it depends entirely on the type of response required to illicit an immune response in the organism (human). Having reached this stage, the vaccine (either live or dead) is packaged into extremely precise aliquots either as a liquid or a dried aliquot. At this point they know the exact storage conditions for the vaccine - in particular the temperature of storage is crucial.
They develop gallons which are then rendered into absolutely minuscule aliquots (often in the nanogram or picagram range).
Last edited by Vintage Chief; April 14th, 2020 at 04:02 PM.
Mike - That's 600 million - 800 million doses of the same vaccine. Sorry I'm late, I received my new phone today and I've been in restoration of backup from hell mode for a couple hours.
Here is some extremely interesting news recapitulated this week by NIH (National Institutes Of Health) from research published April 1st, in EBioMedicine, a Lancet journal. If this delivery vehicle comes to fruition for human's it would be remarkable, indeed. To put this in perspective, the human skin is the largest organ of the human body. Additionally, the human skin organ is where the majority of the human immune response occurs on a constant 24x7x365 basis. Delivery of a COVID-19 vaccine employing this vehicle would be a huge game changer.
--Norm, thanks for the explanation about covid 19. I really don't have a clue- ashamed to say... It seems to me there is always so much news going around in "normal" times that it's hard for a laymen to figure out which one should be followed. A good example was the start of the Gulf War in 1990 or so. "Oh another squabble going on in Kuwait? Ahh, they've been fighting forever- no big deal". Then suddenly the US is in the middle of it. Oh, I wish I had paid more attention to that!
-- Now beginning of 2020, another "sars" or whatever they call it, oh that ain't nothin.... Now come to find out it sure is somethin and I didn't pay attention to the background,etc. I heard that this whole thing started from a human eating a cat that was bit by a bat.... That sounds crazy!
--Well I am pretty fortunate, Aside from being a little bored and the big hit on my nest egg everything is normal here. Good thing for projects to keep me busy!! Hey It's starting to get nice enough around here to get out the Cutlass, As long as our Governor doesn't ban rides in classic cars as she has motorized boat rides!! Funny thing is when I stored things I put Olds in first then pontoon right tight (3"or so) next to it and wall on other side cuz I planned to get boat out first. Now I have to move boat before I can get into Olds to even unlock ignition.
--Have a good one guys!
Other interesting tidbits of info regarding SARS-CoV-2 and vaccines:
The following article is not intended to be political, just coincidental on the timing noted.
Apparently, work towards vaccines against SARS (from the original outbreak in 2003) and MERS was slowed/stopped in 2016 due to lack of funding and interest to proceed. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...dried-n1150091
The vast majority of flu vaccines are incubated in eggs produced by government-controlled hatcheries. Curious to note that this article states that these eggs are likely *not* going to be used to develop the vaccines to be used for SARS-CoV-2, but important to also state that it could change as vaccine development proceeds. https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/27/healt...cli/index.html
Curious to note that this article states that these eggs are likely *not* going to be used to develop the vaccines to be used for SARS-CoV-2.
During my tenure as an Assoc. Research Scientist involved in the empirical analysis of the PI3K enzyme, I grew PI3K enzymes on the same platform cells now being employed in recombinant influenza production - Sf9 cells of the fall armyworm invertebrate, Spodoptera frugiperda. Sf9 cells (IPLBSF21-AE Sf21 cell line) are obtained from the fore-gut of the invertebrate. They are easily manipulated, easy to grow and their genome is small - which makes them an excellent candidate to grow many types of proteins. Remember, the 'S' Protein HA cleavage site of SARS-CoV-2 is nothing more than a protein. Enzymes are proteins which catalyze (increase the rate of) a reaction. Essentially, what you do is create the recombinant DNA first (rDNA). Since SARS-CoV-2 is a positive sense RNA virus, it's rather easy. You take the S Protein gene assemblies for SARS-CoV-2 (the ones of importance here are the genes which code for the HA ACE-2 protein cleavage site), create positive sense DNA genes with the SARS-CoV-2 HA gene assemblies, cleave the HA proteins from the rDNA, transfect them into Sf9 cells and grow the cells in an Sf9 serum free nutrient broth (where you can literally produce hundreds of gallons if desired). Next, employing simple centrifuge protocols, you isolate the Sf9 cells, lyse the cells & extract the HA protein (antigen). Next, you create aliquots of the HA proteins (these are now effectively referred to as the antigens). Next, you inject the antigens into the target organism (in the case of SARS-CoV-2) - humans. Employment of Sf9 cells for the production of rDNA has been around for at least 25-30 years. I first began production of PI3K via rDNA employing Sf9 cells in 1990. Nearly every virology & microbiology (DNA/RNA) laboratory around the world in both the public & private sectors has employed Sf9 cells for at least the past 25-30 years. Easy stuff to grow rDNA in bulk. You'll need a minimum Biosafety level 3 facility to produce the 'soup'. They are extremely expensive and not many are in use - I worked in one of them. They are not that difficult to manufacture and erect, but they are EXTREMELY EXACTING in their requirements. BTW, my Sf9 cell lines were always purchased from Invitrogen which is now owned by Gibco.
Out at 930 this morning. Tomorrow should be earlier. Heck as the time we spend there gets shorter, we should go in later. Though lately expressway traffic at 5am is rather slim.
Beautiful out and I just came in from some mowing. Now I'm gonna get ready and wash the car. It sure needs a good wax but that won't happen today. Funny, the wiper on the passenger side hasn't been doing squat for a little while now. I finally got around to looking at it and the rubber blade part is detaching from the arm. That car has always had some sort of wiper problem going on. Once when it needed wipers I got a set of ANCOs from Advance Auto and put them on. Only a few months later Mom had the car into the dealer and they said those wipers had gone bad (?) and that they were the worst wipers ever to have bought. They of course had the best wipers, with the resultant price, and now about a year later those wipers have come apart. So I'm gonna go get another set at Advance and the hell with the dealer's advice.
My neighbor is back from New Jersey. I probably mentioned that she put her house for sale and in watching the internet see she already has a contract. No clue what the people are like. This is wrong I know, but I feel left out of the whole deal. When the man was around, he called me several times a day. He would have told me what was going on, who the people were, in fact he probably would have had me over to meet them and assess them before they entered into contract. I knew everything that went on and was included like family. Not with her. All the stuff I had given him over the years, car stuff, garage stuff, etc. she just gave to her son. She hasn't asked if I wanted anything as a keepsake or offered to give me back any of the stuff I took over there. I don't care about the stuff. I'm sad that she doesn't think enough of me to think of me now and then. But if he were still around this wouldn't be an issue. I really miss that guy.
Think I'll fudge the 4:00 order a little and get started with the car. It's been months since I washed a car. Should be exciting...
Mike - Without me having to dig threw a million of your Good Morning posts, I'd really like to know just what car you drive - you seem to have a couple hundred various vehicles and honestly, I'm clueless as to what you use for a daily driver. For some time I thought it was a truck.
Well, I got another epidural today instead of the rhizotomy, a little sore, but I iced it for awhile, and will do it again later. Looks like June for the rhizotomy. We'll see. Of course having that done meant that I was restricted in my activities, so I did a couple of loads of laundry, cleaned the bathroom sink in the half bath, and the commode in the other bathroom. Hopefully I'll be able to do some raking this weekend. Norm, don't feel bad, we really don't know what Mike is driving until he calls it out.
Norm the car I drive most these days is a 2008 Saturn Aura. This is a car my Mother bought brand new, just before the closing of Saturn. She drove it up until last year when she said she was having too much trouble getting in and out of it. So the good son that I am traded my car (Chevy Cruze) on a Chevy Equinox for her, and I took the Saturn. It had 48K when I brought it home, now just a little over 60.
This is actually a very nice car. It drives well, is comfortable, and it really moves. It, the Pontiac G6, and the Impala are all basically the same car and were built in Kansas City. Not real popular but they made them for three years.
Usually whenever someone says something about my cars Jamesbo comes up with his game of, guess how many cars Mike has. He must be making cornbread or something. I see Dan chimed in on my phone. I would like to drive my truck more but being a big block and four wheel drive, it's pretty expensive.
Now, next up in regular duty is the dogmobile. Whenever Tiger is with me we take that car. It's always full of dog hair and it smells funny inside. Eh, it's his car I don't care.
So there you have it. I really want a nice convertible t drive for the summer, but with a huge pay cut and wanting to buy a new house this summer, it probably won't happen for awhile.
Well, I got another epidural today instead of the rhizotomy, a little sore, but I iced it for awhile, and will do it again later. Looks like June for the rhizotomy. We'll see. Of course having that done meant that I was restricted in my activities, so I did a couple of loads of laundry, cleaned the bathroom sink in the half bath, and the commode in the other bathroom. Hopefully I'll be able to do some raking this weekend. Norm, don't feel bad, we really don't know what Mike is driving until he calls it out.
Dan - I didn't know what a rhizotomy was until I looked it up. Now I know. Have you had a rhizotomy previously or is this the first one? If you've had one previously, how well does it work - how long does it last? I have no back pain issues. I'm just curious.
Mike - Thanks for that explanation. My Mom had issues with her car as she aged - it was the lower back, hips & legs issues as she aged. The seat in her car (I think her last one was some breed of Buick but it doesn't really matter) was too low and it was difficult for her to get in & out so we traded her car for a more high profile seat in which she could easily enter & exit. And, of course, like most things we had already been accommodating smaller changes to her life style such as replacing toilets with high profile toilets. I know they make high profile toilet seats, but changing out toilets isn't much of a deal.
Hey, speaking of toilets. Kinda funny thing. The guy (85+yrs) who forever owned a large farm here passed away several years ago. One of his sons who resides not far from here was having a difficult time contacting him so he went over to his dad's house. He found his dad laying dead on the floor w/ his britches down next to the toilet. He apparently died on the toilet. I can be reverent with regards to these situations, but honestly he must have struggled passing some major timber I suspect?
The problem with the Saturn Aura for older people is the fact that they have contoured bucket seats which makes it a pain to get out of the car. My then 88 year old aunt pointed that out to me when she rode in my Aura several years ago. I really liked the Aura XR that I had, but early production 3.6L were known to consume oil as I found out when my service light came on. Mike, you should not have that problem as I believe that you have the 3.5L engine. Norm, I had temporary Rhizotomy in the late 80's, and it hurt like a mother @#*K'r. The point was to see if a temporary one would help me, but I was in pain for three days afterwards, and they said that the permanent one wouldn't work for me. The Doctor that I have now, says that the procedure has changed quite a bit since then as far as the technique that they use for the injection. That and the fact that my discs have deteriorated so much since then, leaves little choice outside of surgery.
Got out around 10 this morning. We were on track for 8 then the guys in back decided they wanted to be funny. Supposedly it's easier to break down a Delta wheel and send it through than a contract wheel. So they left all the contract wheels sit and only sent through Delta wheels. Oddly enough, the contract companies need wheels as well and when the lead found out what they were up to he made them do the contracts right then and they all had to go out. They know better than this, and don't pull this sort of thing when the real lead is there.
Stopped at Northern Tool on the way home to get some bar oil for the chain saw. Now I can cut up a bunch of stuff this afternoon.
Dan you're right, my car does have the 3.5 I never saw a point to having two engines with such close displacement. I will say the 3.5 has never given us a lick of trouble. Funny, the car that's easiest for my Mom to get in and out of is the dogmobile. 2010 Ford Transit Connect. If I would have thought she'd actually be happy with that car I would have given it to her in a minute. But It has a $hitty radio, it is hard to see out the side windows, and it's so very plain.
Jamesbo your food always sounds so exciting. My lunch was a turkey sandwich. Not exciting. Although I do plan to get some stuff at the store this weekend and make a real dish. Don't know what yet.
Okay chain saw time. I might mow some more as well. Beautiful out. Have a good afternoon everyone.
Mike, the 3.6 was first a Caddy engine, then it was put into the top tier of the other brands, like the Saturn XR, loaded Impala, and Malibu. It has more hp 251, compared to 217 for the 3.5. It eventually made it's way into the suv lineup, and now small trucks and the Camaro as well. The 3.5 was discontinued when the recession hit, replaced by the 4 banger and 4 banger turbo for fuel economy.
I had an '08 Aura XE w/ the 3.5 in it. I did a lease, got it with the dark blue metallic paint, but stupidly cheaped out and got the light gray cloth seats. Big mistake, because if I had paid the extra $10 or whatever it was per month for the leather, I would still have that car today. Hands-down, favorite car I have ever owned until I bought my LaCrosse last year. Majority of my miles are highway, as I live close to the e-way and work is just off the highway as well. ANYWAY... that 3.5 avg'd about 38mpg for the 39 months I had it. Never a recall on it, and that's a first for me (although the LaCrosse hasn't had one). Smooth acceleration, plenty of power, just an absolute joy to drive.
Since I wasn't able to sell my LeSabre before this crisis, I'll probably hang onto it and give it to my 16 year old once he gets his license. I had planned on getting rid of it and finding a nice Aura with the 3.5. Man, I miss that car! I would recommend an Aura to people every day of the week if they can find a nice one, because the Saturn name on it means you'll get the "orphan" discount on price vs a comparable Malibu. Specifically, look for an XE 3.5 vs the XR with the 3.6.
And just a correction: Aura, G6, and Malibu were all the same Epsilon I platform. G6 debuted in 06, Aura in 07, and Malibu in 08. Fun fact: the Aura and Malibu both won North American Car of the Year at the Detroit auto show. When the Epsilon II platform debuted, the Aura and G6 were killed off with the rest of Saturn and Pontiac, GM put the Malibu and Impala onto this one platform, but in short vs long wheel base versions (along with the Regal, XTS, etc).
Jeff that's the exact car I have, mine is silver with grey cloth seats. There may be some blue show up on it before all is said and done, though. I always heard it was the same car as the Impala, it looks more like it than a Malibu.
Got some scrub bushes cut down this afternoon but that's about all. Spent some time just sitting out on the back porch, what a nice day. Tiger has been outside all day. He'll sleep good tonight.
Now that I think about it, my 2010 Camaro had the 3.6 in it. I didn't have it long enough to develop any engine trouble, the trans gave me plenty. It was a straight shift, and after every shift the car would buck like I had dumped the clutch at a slow speed. Gave it back to the dealer and they beat the hell out of it for days then said, sorry, we couldn't find anything wrong. Bye bye Camaro.
Think I'll make some popcorn and put in a movie. Hope everyone has a good evening.
Busy weekend so far. Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.
Been working on cars, working in the yard, and playing with Tiger. He got a new ball today and he's been going crazy over it.
Woke up to some unannounced rain this morning but it cleared up nice so I did some mowing. It's an excellent evening out right now.
Heard from my neighbor finally. Hadn't talked to her in weeks. She said she sold her house and closing is May 15. Then she's going to stay with her sister in Florida while she looks for a place close by. I'll sure hate to see her go. She said the buyer is a single woman. Hope she's hot.
Well I think I'll call up some Netflix and watch an episode of Car Masters. My sister turned me on to it, she's not a car person but for some reason likes this show. They do some far out projects, but like most of those types of shows, it's all drama and talk, very little working on cars. Eh.
With my luck, she'd have catst is a slow day in the small Saskatchewan town of Pumphandle, and streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody is living on credit.
A tourist visiting the area drives through town, stops at the motel, and lays a $100 bill on the desk, saying he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs to pick one for the night.
As soon as he walks upstairs, the motel owner grabs the bill and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher.
The butcher takes the $100 and runs down the street to retire his debt to the pig farmer.
The pig farmer takes the $100 and heads off to pay his bill to his supplier, the Co-op.
The guy at the Co-op takes the $100 and runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer her "services" on credit.
The hooker rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill with the hotel owner.
The hotel proprietor then places the $100 back on the counter so the traveler will not suspect anything.
At that moment the traveler comes down the stairs, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, picks up the $100 bill and leaves.
No one produced anything. No one earned anything... However, the whole town is now out of debt and now looks to the future with a lot more optimism.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how a Stimulus package works.
April 14th, 2020, 06:41 AM
