trinacriabob

@oldshurst442 Very true about the wide open spaces in Canada. You showed an aerial photo of a town named Chibougamau in Quebec. When you fly into YYZ or YUL from overseas and you have one of those video screens in front of you, you are likely to see Chicoutimi in Quebec on the monitor. I think it's a reference/radar point, since it's probably a small town. I like that name. I have to congratulate Americans, and the world, for their "never forget" posture regarding September 11, 2001. We're coming up on 19 years, so almost 2 decades. We cannot afford to forget. This current crisis makes for another "never forget" event. When we are able to get past this, they (pharma/medical community and governance) have to act proactively - vaccinations with broader coverage and plans in place to deal with triage events. We cannot afford to forget this event, either. Even before this all happened, I asked my doctor to include it in my last set of labs. I never knew what it is. I always assumed that it was a line item in the standard metabolic panel or complete count blood tests and I could look it up on my portal. It's not. It's a separate test. I was able to find out and will never have to ask again.

The rental agencies seem to have a "floor age" of 25 for normal rates, because some ask that when you book on-line. I'm thinking there might be a 21-24 rental rate, and an even steeper under 21 rate. I'm trying to remember how old I was when I rented my first car. It might have been 20, but it was a local rental while the car was being repaired. I know for sure that I had 2 "interesting" rentals when I was 23 and 24. The first one, at 23, was taking a Lincoln Town Car from White Plains NY to JFK because my boss had flown out a day or two before me. Driving a huge car like that with no road feel whatsoever on "the Hutch" and the Van Wyck Expressway next to the center guard rail was stressful for a "kid" with some zits still left on his face. When I was 24, National handed me the keys to a decked out Olds and I drove it around for a week between NYC (including Manhattan) and Washington DC (near the Capital Mall). It was unnerving because, in the West, freeways are big and ramps are long. I sighed with relief when I uneventfully drove it over the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, on the Belt Parkway around the perimeter of Brooklyn and into Queens, and, again, finally dropped it off at JFK. This looks like a '76. Very nice. I preferred the base version or the Esprit more than the flashier ones, as long as the base or Esprit had rally wheels. Regardless, I liked every generation of Firebird more so than the equivalent Camaro.

Thanks for the link. As big and populous as China is, for it to zero out makes no sense. I can accept that cases have plummeted and recoveries are up. What about those closed cases - Isn't there some criteria about how many negative tests a patient has to get within a certain time frame to be deemed recovered? is there a way to test for antibodies (blood work) on someone who has had it? That would be cumbersome. Do these people who have recovered have immunity? All cruise ships are either being detained offshore or heading to their home ports. This is weird since noroviruses have messed up various ocean voyages over the years, but they seem to be specific to a particular voyage. All the talk is confusing. You'll see an article where a young person says it's the worst. Then you'll see an article where a middle aged person says they've had worse influenzas before. A person doesn't know what to think.

Three guesses and the first two don't count. Depending on their academic calendar, some colleges and universities have their spring breaks during different weeks: two weeks ago, this last week, and this upcoming week. I didn't figure this out until recently. It probably helps the lodging and restaurant industry handle the load. And have enough cars at the rental agencies. Who'd rent cars to most of these brats, anyway?

Seeing something like this might have sent them scrambling home ...

Is the 24 Hr. Fitness in a shopping center, with an exterior entrance on the first level, next to quaint downtown Kirkland still there? Yep, LA Fitness branches are closed as well. As for food, being able to eat at Denny's - which I don't knock to begin with - might be like sleeping at the Waldorf Astoria.

I live in a very quiet neighborhood that has always been almost too quiet. Somehow, it feels even quieter. Same idea, different foods - oatmeal every morning and many cups of tea - I've also lost about 5 pounds since I haven't eaten my usual junk food that I buy at check-out.

Seems too soon. I wouldn't know. As they say, "haste makes waste."

What? China is letting people circulate at this time? City or region specific?

First, the map confirms a few things and brings up more questions. The counties of King and Snohomish have the bulk of the cases. Then, the numbers in Pierce (Tacoma) and Thurston (Olympia ... typical diverse, multi-ethnic workforce of state capitals) are surprisingly low. Numbers up in Whatcom County, with WWU, and right beneath Canada are also low. When the border was open, there was a lot of transit through there. Out at the desolate coastal counties, the numbers are super low ... good. Second, that's a good article. We are behind the curve in testing. These aren't blood tests. They're swabs, right? They need to amp up both testing and mask availability. People are going out sparingly, to do necessary errands. If they used masks sparingly when they did that, it would help. It's that people have hoarded them up. I don't see anything wrong with people having a few boxes each. We've got a few boxes of most household things in our homes. I saw photos of students in Florida on spring break, huddled together and goofing around at the beach. De Santis didn't act to close the beaches, so local jurisdictions did.

I was thinking that we can all move to West Virginia. That is, until today. U.S. possessions or territories in the Pacific like the Marianas are still viable options. I think I'm going to try to support small businesses like restaurants these days. There are a couple of them I like. They feature specials on certain days. I've gotten e-mails from them urging people to call in and that they will bring the food out to your car when you get there. That sounds plausible for a couple of evenings a week.

I like the front, except for maybe where the front lamps merge into the grille. That rear pillar looks sort of thick. I'd prefer slightly higher displacement and no turbocharger.

Looking at that gun shop (further ahead) in that strip mall, why am I not surprised at the types of vehicles parked there? Who said consumer research doesn't work? Energy drinks don't look appealing and seem bad for you. I remember drinking a lot of Mountain Dew for all-nighters to cram while a student. I now can't look at a can of Mountain Dew without having it turn my stomach. But I'm with you on most Coke products (regular and calorie free) except for the latest flavors up on billboards. I can't do that much coffee. If at a Starbucks in the a.m., I will get decaf when they have it around. I probably drink 3 cups of tea a day.

Thank you! Same to you. Two weeks ago, I knew where I was going to go for an Irish lunch today. It's an Irish pub/restaurant ... not part of any chain. Now, they are not open.

We can always rely on our resident Greek-Canadian member to say what he has to say with passion and conviction. Keep up that zesty Mediterranean candor. And I mean that in a nice way. I'm not in on the conversation you two are having but, like so many other teenagers, I had a brief stint in fast food during high school. In the U.S., I have seen a steady decline in the quality of service. If we didn't treat customers right, we got in big trouble. I remember that my paper application had a spot on it for G.P.A. And that the hiring manager put a check next to it. I look back at this and laugh because, today, it seems you just need a pulse. Nowadays, a lot of the kids at these chain fast food places look like they don't want to be there. Some don't want to explain anything to you, don't look at you, and are incapable of saying thank you. There are exceptions. Generally speaking, I see that suburban and rural fast food locations, like ones along the interstates, have better mannered young employees. If you go into a Subway and it's a busy one, those people have to hustle during their busy times. That would explain the huge turnover. If they do their work correctly and are nice to their customers, you have to give them credit for that.

It's hard to think about the stock market in regular or bull markets because you don't know how far the bull will run, what the real financial profile of a company is like (there's this area called technical analysis which is beyond most of our heads), and then some. Even with those who know that stuff, the opinions of analysts about certain companies are still all over the map. Back to health matters, do you think that the quarantines and limitations will help flatten the curve? State and local governments here in the U.S. also seem to be relying on it. They say this technique has worked before. @A Horse With No Name It's good to see you on here.

Thank you. I've also looked at the ones by the CDC and Wiki. I'm trying to focus on the recoveries. This one actually paints a less favorable, though still good, picture of the "Diamond Princess," which looks better on Wiki. It indicates 7 deaths to 325 recoveries. The problem seems to be that, even if the mortality rate is low, the serious case numbers are still a lot higher than the resources typically available during a flu season when people in poorer health might need to go to the hospital. Overseas, that has called for triage management and prioritization of who gets more thorough treatment. At this point, I am more interested in the recoveries. I'm not up to speed on this one. Did they ever pinpoint how it got into the nursing home in Kirkland WA to begin with?

Probably right about the masks. I wanted some in case I had to board a plane. I sit in "steerage," so there's none of that personal distance factor. I once got tickets for the deep discount inaugural period for the nonstop Lufthansa Portland to Frankfurt service. The outbound is always better ... jet stream. On the way back, the trip is longer and you're tired from the traveling. I saw this one person in the boarding area at Frankfurt and thought, 'anyone but him.' It was a 400 pound + Greek Orthodox priest, dressed in the traditional black robes and with the helicopter landing pad shaped hat, and, sure enough, I got stuck out in the 2 seats on the Airbus 340 on a full flight with him in the adjacent seat. I had the aisle. He literally spilled over into my seating space. As he ate his food, some of the crumbs fell into his beard. He also ordered quite a few of those small bottles of liquor. I leaned into the aisle for the entire 10 hours, risking that the carts would hit me. I did not sleep a wink. That's funny. I guess those would be a less relevant staple in these times. That Maverick and that dog just seem to go together.

@dfelt and everyone else We should try to stay calm. Fauci or someone else important mentioned 'hunker down.' I got an extra 24 pack of bottled water and an extra 12 pack of TP. I don't want to hoard ... other people need that stuff, too. I'd like to be a able to get a box of N95 masks. No such luck. I have some of those you'd use for sanding, but I'd like the N95 label. Also, there's no sense in traveling. Even though warm weather tends to call.

Resumption of the "Costco lunch" (and I'm not talking about their food court - ahem) would be one indicator of a return to normal.

I was able to get soup. The variety was not all there. Too bad that a person can't do "Cafe 1.50" at Costco, as in eating it there at their picnic tables ... the "simple pleasures" in life that we took for granted.

Good Parthenon Bad Parthenon (I once read an auto review that likened the grille of the '77-'78 Riviera to the Parthenon.)

This was my first weekend of grocery shopping after all the shutdowns have been announced. Water was available while toilet paper and bread had been picked through fairly thoroughly. People are probably doing the freeze/thaw with the bread. Any of the more upscale grocery stores where they had self serve deli areas to put artichokes and the like into cartons, make salads, etc. had emptied the containers of ingredients to pick through. The stores were not at all crowded. People are practicing social distancing. Restaurants are sparsely populated. Those random casinos that all seem to have a buffet (and buffet specials during the week) are closed. Don't even think about the "Costco lunch." I saw a curve about the pandemic. If you don't suppress it, it spikes faster and higher, and then cycles through. If you do suppress it, the spike is much flatter but its duration in the population is longer before cycling through. We can only hope the health policy gurus have a good grip on this.

Found this photo of a '77 on line. The Malibu Classic could sport the stacked rectangular lamps more so than the Monte Carlo could. Those wheel covers were great, and shared with the Impala/Caprice of the same year. They often seemed to be missing on these cars - theft. Anymore, they are tough to find. That's the Central California coast, with the historic Bixby Bridge in the distance. So many car ads have been sited here.

I've seen a few in March. I will try to remember previous ones. Today, I spotted an interesting GM intermediate. It was probably a '76 Malibu Classic coupe. From afar, it looked basic - blackwalls, hubcaps, no uplevel trim. I thought it might have been one of those rare 250 c.i. inline 6s. Nope. As I got closer, I could see two modified exhaust pipes and that it was rumbling - 305, 350, or 454 V8? - I don't know. It was burgundy. The body was in good shape but the paint was faded. Of the '76 and '77 fold, most of GM PLCs got more garish in '77. This one had the simpler tail lamps ('76) but the nicer vertical bar grille ('77), as opposed to the busier diamond hatch pattern of the preceding year. It would have been cool to see if it was a purist model with no A/C, where you can better see the layout of the engine bay.