Doug's Darkworld

The 1989 loma Prieta earthquake. 31 one years ago today. I was in my vegetable garden in the Berkeley hills. The ground started to really shake, not scary, but I was like “wow, this in the biggest quake I ever felt.” Little quakes are common in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sometimes one went for years without feeling one, sometimes there would be several in a year. Just part of life in California. The excitement lasted about 5 seconds … then it started rolling. Like being on a boat in the ocean. I had a hard time standing up, the fence post I was trying to grab kept swerving out of my way. I could see my big old 3 story house swaying. I could hear glass breaking. But worse of all, I was a geology major. I knew that if one feels shaking in a quake followed by rolling, it means one is some distance from a big earthquake … and that people were almost certainly dying as I stood there.

It was not a good feeling. I was lucky I guess. A couple I had met died in the Cypress Freeway collapse. From my window I could see the broken Bay Bridge (image above) and worse, holes they cut in the Cypress Freeway to get to the crushed cars. Some were crushed to 3 inches thick. Not survivable. I had survivor’s guilt for about a year. Got over it though. Before the earthquake I had always wondered what it would be like to survive a natural disaster. Loma Prieta cured that, I would have been perfectly happy to spend the rest of my life without experiencing another similar event.

And then came 2020 and Covid-19. “Want to make God laugh? Tell him your plans.” Loma Prieta was over in 20 seconds, after that was just the aftermath. Covid-19 and Trump’s inexplicable failure to cope with it, gonna last until late January 2021 at least. Fun times. So a few recent links and my increasingly caustic honest responses to same:

As the Coronavirus Surges, a New Culprit Emerges: Pandemic Fatigue. Please, this isn’t fatigue, it’s “I’m too stupid to understand that Covid-19 changed everything and I need to change my ways.”

Influencer Dmitriy Stuzhuk Dead Of Coronavirus After Telling Followers It Wasn’t Real. Let’s think, it’s 1941, the German blitz (bombing raids) on London had been going on for over six months. The Headline: “Man Who Thought the Blitz was a Hoax Dies in Blitz Bombing Raid.” In other words, Dmitry was an idiot.

A friend sent me this: There’s a Word for Why We Wear Masks, and Liberals Should Say It. The word is freedom. I wear a mask because I’m a freedom loving patriot. That means “my freedom to do what I want with my fists … ends at your jaw.” Anyone who thinks their freedom means they can punch their fellow citizens whenever they want has a sick idea of freedom at best.

Moving right along … planning my “Travels With Charlie” road trip. I’ve got three weeks of good health left, I love road trips, might be my last chance. Granted the surgeries could all turn out fine and I’ll be blogging for decades hence, but see previous God plans joke. At the very least, looks like I will live to the election, so my straight blue ballot will count.

Hope all are having a good weekend. As always: likes, comments, questions, anatomically possible suggestions welcome. #StaytheFHome #WearaDamnMask #FelesRegula

Copyright © 2020 Doug Stych. All rights reserved.

(Image: The section of the Bay Bridge that failed in the 1989 quake, sadly one fellow died when he drove into it. USGS image, public domain under US copyright law.)

The 1989 loma Prieta earthquake. 31 one years ago today. I was in my vegetable garden in the Berkeley hills. The ground started to really shake, not scary, but I was like “wow, this in the biggest quake I ever felt.” Little quakes are common in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sometimes one went for years without feeling one, sometimes there would be several in a year. Just part of life in California. The excitement lasted about 5 seconds … then it started rolling. Like being on a boat in the ocean. I had a hard time standing up, the fence post I was trying to grab kept swerving out of my way. I could see my big old 3 story house swaying. I could hear glass breaking. But worse of all, I was a geology major. I knew that if one feels shaking in a quake followed by rolling, it means one is some distance from a big earthquake … and that people were almost certainly dying as I stood there.

It was not a good feeling. I was lucky I guess. A couple I had met died in the Cypress Freeway collapse. From my window I could see the broken Bay Bridge (image above) and worse, holes they cut in the Cypress Freeway to get to the crushed cars. Some were crushed to 3 inches thick. Not survivable. I had survivor’s guilt for about a year. Got over it though. Before the earthquake I had always wondered what it would be like to survive a natural disaster. Loma Prieta cured that, I would have been perfectly happy to spend the rest of my life without experiencing another similar event.

And then came 2020 and Covid-19. “Want to make God laugh? Tell him your plans.” Loma Prieta was over in 20 seconds, after that was just the aftermath. Covid-19 and Trump’s inexplicable failure to cope with it, gonna last until late January 2021 at least. Fun times. So a few recent links and my increasingly caustic honest responses to same:

As the Coronavirus Surges, a New Culprit Emerges: Pandemic Fatigue. Please, this isn’t fatigue, it’s “I’m too stupid to understand that Covid-19 changed everything and I need to change my ways.”

Influencer Dmitriy Stuzhuk Dead Of Coronavirus After Telling Followers It Wasn’t Real. Let’s think, it’s 1941, the German blitz (bombing raids) on London had been going on for over six months. The Headline: “Man Who Thought the Blitz was a Hoax Dies in Blitz Bombing Raid.” In other words, Dmitry was an idiot.

A friend sent me this: There’s a Word for Why We Wear Masks, and Liberals Should Say It. The word is freedom. I wear a mask because I’m a freedom loving patriot. That means “my freedom to do what I want with my fists … ends at your jaw.” Anyone who thinks their freedom means they can punch their fellow citizens whenever they want has a sick idea of freedom at best.

Moving right along … planning my “Travels With Charlie” road trip. I’ve got three weeks of good health left, I love road trips, might be my last chance. Granted the surgeries could all turn out fine and I’ll be blogging for decades hence, but see previous God plans joke. At the very least, looks like I will live to the election, so my straight blue ballot will count.

Hope all are having a good weekend. As always: likes, comments, questions, anatomically possible suggestions welcome. #StaytheFHome #WearaDamnMask #FelesRegula

Copyright © 2020 Doug Stych. All rights reserved.

(Image: The section of the Bay Bridge that failed in the 1989 quake, sadly one fellow died when he drove into it. USGS image, public domain under US copyright law.)

The 1989 loma Prieta earthquake. 31 one years ago today. I was in my vegetable garden in the Berkeley hills. The ground started to really shake, not scary, but I was like “wow, this in the biggest quake I ever felt.” Little quakes are common in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sometimes one went for years without feeling one, sometimes there would be several in a year. Just part of life in California. The excitement lasted about 5 seconds … then it started rolling. Like being on a boat in the ocean. I had a hard time standing up, the fence post I was trying to grab kept swerving out of my way. I could see my big old 3 story house swaying. I could hear glass breaking. But worse of all, I was a geology major. I knew that if one feels shaking in a quake followed by rolling, it means one is some distance from a big earthquake … and that people were almost certainly dying as I stood there.

It was not a good feeling. I was lucky I guess. A couple I had met died in the Cypress Freeway collapse. From my window I could see the broken Bay Bridge (image above) and worse, holes they cut in the Cypress Freeway to get to the crushed cars. Some were crushed to 3 inches thick. Not survivable. I had survivor’s guilt for about a year. Got over it though. Before the earthquake I had always wondered what it would be like to survive a natural disaster. Loma Prieta cured that, I would have been perfectly happy to spend the rest of my life without experiencing another similar event.

And then came 2020 and Covid-19. “Want to make God laugh? Tell him your plans.” Loma Prieta was over in 20 seconds, after that was just the aftermath. Covid-19 and Trump’s inexplicable failure to cope with it, gonna last until late January 2021 at least. Fun times. So a few recent links and my increasingly caustic honest responses to same:

As the Coronavirus Surges, a New Culprit Emerges: Pandemic Fatigue. Please, this isn’t fatigue, it’s “I’m too stupid to understand that Covid-19 changed everything and I need to change my ways.”

Influencer Dmitriy Stuzhuk Dead Of Coronavirus After Telling Followers It Wasn’t Real. Let’s think, it’s 1941, the German blitz (bombing raids) on London had been going on for over six months. The Headline: “Man Who Thought the Blitz was a Hoax Dies in Blitz Bombing Raid.” In other words, Dmitry was an idiot.

A friend sent me this: There’s a Word for Why We Wear Masks, and Liberals Should Say It. The word is freedom. I wear a mask because I’m a freedom loving patriot. That means “my freedom to do what I want with my fists … ends at your jaw.” Anyone who thinks their freedom means they can punch their fellow citizens whenever they want has a sick idea of freedom at best.

Moving right along … planning my “Travels With Charlie” road trip. I’ve got three weeks of good health left, I love road trips, might be my last chance. Granted the surgeries could all turn out fine and I’ll be blogging for decades hence, but see previous God plans joke. At the very least, looks like I will live to the election, so my straight blue ballot will count.

Hope all are having a good weekend. As always: likes, comments, questions, anatomically possible suggestions welcome. #StaytheFHome #WearaDamnMask #FelesRegula

Copyright © 2020 Doug Stych. All rights reserved.

(Image: The section of the Bay Bridge that failed in the 1989 quake, sadly one fellow died when he drove into it. USGS image, public domain under US copyright law.)