If you think these are satire, you haven’t been watching the news lately…
Tap the poster to see it at full size.
Tap the poster to see it at full size.
Tap the poster to see it at full size.
Tap the poster to see it at full size.
Goldfinger’s eponymous debut album is one of my favorite albums of the 1990s. There isn’t a single “dog” track on this album — I enjoy the throw-away tracks, even the one with the drummer’s phone call audition one. And while it’s a corny crowd-pleaser that even Goldfinger themselves don’t like to play, Here in Your Bedroom is my go-to song on the album. In fact, it’s one of the first songs I played on the accordion on that fateful Saturday when I first took it out onto the street.
While the current stay-at-home order wasn’t how I imagined the spring of 2020 would be, it has had some unexpected upsides, including this one: Goldfinger putting together a quarantine version of Here in Your Bedroom from their separate stay-at-home studios!
For comparison’s sake, here’s the 1996 video for the song:
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While reading a number of articles on the potential for CPAP machines to be used as makeshift ventilators for less-severe COVID-19 cases or as the basis for conversions into full-fledged ventilators, it occurred to me that a nose-and-mouth CPAP mask like mine could be used as a makeshift mask for going out on essential trips.
They’ve got a lot going for them: they form a tight seal, they’re easy to clean and can be reused, and you can connect a bacterial filter to the hose attachment (which opens downward thanks to gravity, further reducing the risk of droplet contact). I was in the process of ordering a replacement mask anyway, so in addition to a new mask, I ordered a fresh cushion for my old one so that Anitra could use it.
Here’s how the mask and filter fit together:
Between the mask/bacterial filter combo and the fact that the airway faces downward, I figure that the rig makes for some decent droplet protection.
The tricky thing about getting a CPAP mask is that like the CPAP machine you attach it to, it requires a prescription. However, there’s a workaround that just about every online CPAP vendor makes available to customers: while ordering a complete mask requires a prescription, ordering CPAP mask parts doesn’t, and the parts snap together quite easily. Best of all, the cost of ordering parts is about the same as ordering a complete mask.
My new mask is a RedMed AirFit F20, which sells for $120 in kit form at CPAP.com. A cushion for my old mask, a Quattro, sells for $54. This isn’t a cheap solution, but if you already have a CPAP and have some old masks, you might be able to repurpose them for the plague.
In case you were wondering:
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It’s Monday, and I’m pushing ahead at full speed on the screened-in front porch office as I work my way through my to-do list. I do have an online checklist, but it’s not as satisfying to look at the version on my whiteboard.
I’m continuing to work on revising the book I co-wrote, iOS Apprentice, 8th Edition. I’ve got until the end of the week.
As you can see, I’ve obscured most of my checklist except for two items:
…I’d try to go with the least worst of this motley rabble of reprehensible gasbags. Maybe house number 2, especially since Jordan “Get your life together, bucko!” / “alt-right Dr. Phil” Peterson will still be recovering from that medically induced coma from that Russian clinic that he went to because of his addiction to benzos, and will be silent (this is man who needs to follow his own Rules for Life, or perhaps a better-written version thereof). Also because I’m pretty sure I could intimidate a limp fish like Charlie Kirk with an askew glance.
If you were forced to, which of these houses of right-wing grifters would you live with?
Thanks to Sleeping Giants for the find!