Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[froot loops]

Perfect description. Ha!

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The best thing about it was that was Trump's tweet to exact revenge on Pelosi. He showed her.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Oil flirting with dropping below the psychologically important $50 line. At the height of Iran fears just a month ago it was around $64. Crazy swing. Getting pummeled by coronavirus.

[iam416]

Cheap energy. Terrible news for enviros. Great news for developing and developed world.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Those of us working in the energy sector are less enthused

Honestly, I'm not going to be surprised if we see a wave of shale drillers going bankrupt within the next 5 years. Many never fully recovered from the rock bottom prices seen in early 2016.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Slow news day. My advice is to pretty much ignore most of what you are hearing in the press on the Coronavirus except this:

• It's a novel (meaning it has never been seen before) virus that originated in animals but jumped to humans and can now be transmitted human to human. It's a Zoonotic virus. There have been several of them: https://www.sciencealert.com/this-ch...cent-outbreaks
• This is how the H series (e.g. H1N1, H5N1) series got started and how EBOLA, SARS and MERS got started. These were all "pandemics" - meaning they were wide spread and global in character. An "epidemic" like measels or even influenza tend to be local or regional. All of them peter out after a few months of contagion and scientists don't always know why.
• Coronavirus produces a viral respiratory tract infection - the term pneumonia, what you can get from the virus, always sounds bad because we all know the Muppet's creator, Jim Henson, succumbed to it when he was in his 40s. It is nothing more than a respiratory infection - bacterial or viral - where fluid (consolidation) forms with in the lung fields. The degree of consolidation determines the mortality of pneumonia. Risk of severely decreased lung function in pneumonia can be pretty well controlled in the hospital setting. Contributing factors to morbidity and mortality are most prominently immune system status, e.g., people with AIDs are immune compromised and so are the homeless, elderly and people with a lot of co-morbid conditions - those are the people that can die from coronavirus. For most of us here, if you get exposed, you'll get a cold and fully recover in a week or so.
• Anitbiotics are not effective unless there are secondary infections and that can be the case in many patients whose immune system gets over-worked combating the virus. Vaccines are years away but in work. Tamiflu worked to mitigate the symptoms of H - series viruses in particular MERS but its not a cure. Tamiflu is being studied for use v. coronoavirus and in conjunction with other drugs (Kaletra - an HIV anti-viral). Thai health officials are studying the combo of Tamiflu and Kaletra v. coronavirus and it looks promising.
• Interestingly, Thailand has the most extensive contagious disease research facilities in the world. Their geographic locations makes them first on the hit-list of influenza that originates in China so, this is logical in the process of developing and producing flu vaccines every year. The World Health Organization (WHO) is heavily involved with the Thai programs and so is the CDC in the US. Side line: lots of politics here as you'd expect.
• Stuff like coronavirus is going to become more and more common as the world's population increases in the face of globalization ..... but humans aren't all going to get wiped off the face of the earth - yes, I've seen this scenario - by a coronavirus "plague." The technology and growing knowledge at the cellular level of disease research would astound the casual reader. All the breathlessness from the press about the dire straights the world is in facing potentially lethal viruses has utility only when the rest of the story is known. But you don't get that part. It's like global warming - a lot of hand wringing about it to serve political purposes without taking into account the resourcefulness of the human race to problem solve.
• We'll be fine and so will the global economy although the state walls getting thrown up to contain the virus - a good move if not a bit of an over-reaction - will cause the brakes to get tapped in what is a very strong global economy overall. Growth may be a bit stunted this quarter and next if containment isn't working and signs are that it is because Communists can do that sort of shit really well but, will recover in the second half.

[iam416]

Good point, Strangelove. BTW, speaking of hilarious tweets, D Heroine Rep. Ilhan Omar:

Have we ever had an impeached President, deliver the State of the Union address while he is on trial in the Senate?

[Jeff Buchanan]

Just saw this ..... Rush Limbaugh has announced he has "advanced lung CA." That could mean a lot of things for this 69yo. Just had a close friend of mine in his 60s go through 6 months of chemo, get some improvement, then a relapse and he's dead in about 2 months after he became increasingly short of breath - Rush's symptoms that led him to seek medical care.

My friend Never smoked, no family history of lung CA. He was a marathon runner well into his later years before he was diagnosed

Lung CA sucks. Once it gets a hold it can be devastating. In my years of medical practice I did not once see a patient become "CA free" after a DX of lung CA - usually small cell (85%) and the deadliest type - non-small cell is the other. Few with SCLC live beyond 3 years and most die within 18-24 months. No one has survived more than 5 years,

[Hannibal]

Those of us working in the energy sector are less enthused

LMFAO DSL works in the energy business?

JFC

[Dr. Strangelove]

Hell yeah, closing in on 9 yrs experience!!

[Hannibal]

Cool

When you lose your job, make sure to send a thank you note to Barack Obama. His CAFE standards have completely eliminated investments in American refineries. Especially the mid-Continent refineries in places like Ohio. Compound that with Renewable Fuels standards, the taxpayer-funded feeding trough for electric vehicles, and pending Low Carbon Fuel rules/carbon taxes and you're basically screwed if you work in the traditional American energy business.

The only booming business in the US in ten years will be Diversity Consulting and people making gasoline out of cow shit for $12/gallon.

[Dr. Strangelove]

What's good for the industry isn't necessarily good for Americans in general. I mean, the return of $100 oil would be nice for my bonus check and all but I'm not sure Americans are better off paying $4+ for a gallon of gasoline and $10/MCF for nat gas

The industry has loads of problems of its own making. But sure, BLAME OBAMA!!!!

[Hannibal]

Were it not for CAFE standards, refineries would be investing to increase capacity, and that would put upward pressure on the price and benefit your side of the industry. If RFS disappeared tomorrow, refineries would be beating down your door for more supply. Miles driven are constantly increasing but gasoline consumption is decreasing, a problem that hits shale crude especially hard because of its composition. That's on top of the 10% demand that has been destroyed by Renewable Fuels Standards and the massive demand destruction that is going to take place when carbon taxes and Low Carbon Fuels hit everywhere. Over a million barrels per day of ethanol are blended into gasoline every day, the overwhelming majority of which is uneconomical to do, but is done anyways because of mandates. That's a million barrels per day of crude that refineries aren't running -- more than the shale crude output of the entire Appalachia region. Almost as much as what the Eagle Ford play produces.

And you've barely seen the start of it. California is demanding a 20% reduction in carbon intensity by 2030 and other states are talking about following suit. Long term, your business is as fucked as coal, and it's not because of a natural evolution of consumer tastes or legitimate technological breakthroughs. It's because of Democrat policies.

Keep your resume up to date. You're going to need it.

[froot loops]

Just saw this ..... Rush Limbaugh has announced he has "advanced lung CA." That could mean a lot of things for this 69yo. Just had a close friend of mine in his 60s go through 6 months of chemo, get some improvement, then a relapse and he's dead in about 2 months after he became increasingly short of breath - Rush's symptoms that led him to seek medical care.

My friend Never smoked, no family history of lung CA. He was a marathon runner well into his later years before he was diagnosed

Lung CA sucks. Once it gets a hold it can be devastating. In my years of medical practice I did not once see a patient become "CA free" after a DX of lung CA - usually small cell (85%) and the deadliest type - non-small cell is the other. Few with SCLC live beyond 3 years and most die within 18-24 months. No one has survived more than 5 years,

My dad had stopped smoking for 25 years, he took care of himself other than the smoking. My grandma(his mom) had severe diabetes and truly escaped the reaper on multiple occasions died around Memorial Day. We all went down to the funeral, my dad came down with what he thought was the flu in July. It was diagnosed as lung cancer in August and he died by the 1st week of October. Right after 9/11. Man did that year suck. I keep an eye on the lungs at all times.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Sorry to hear that, Froot. On the keeping an eye on your lungs thing........ There are emerging standards of care for Lung CA screening and I'm not entirely up to date on them but I know enough. If you EVER smoked or had exposure to second hand smoke, you should get a chest X-Ray at an age appropriate interval. Risk increases with age and over 45 is kind-of a risk increasing milestone. XRs are not as good at detecting early lung CA as CTs however, there have been studies on cost/benefit that suggest any kind of national program that dictates the us of either XRs or CTs as screening tools for Lung CA isn't cost effective. Based on those studies, insurance companies will routinely deny coverage for both. There are exceptions but it's the usual PITA to get them approved.

The best way to get a Chest XR if you want to be screened is to go to an urgent care center (not the ER) that has diagnostic imaging available on site (check first) and go in and complain of shortness of breath with a wet or dry cough. Nurse practitioners man these places and they diagnose and treat by protocol. You'll usually get a CXR. If you don't get one ask for one under the diagnosis code of shortness of breath. If you go this route, just be aware that a negative plain film CXR doesn't rule out Lung CA. A CT won't either but its way better at early detection. If the plain film CXR has even a hint of an abnormality, the radiologist reading it will order a chest CT. No radiologist wants to miss this DX so they typically over-read films.

Frankly, CTs without contrast (you don't need that) can be had now for under $400 cash at most imaging centers. Some will shoot one without an MD order, some won't. You have to look around. But cash money talks. Sad state of affairs but it is what it is. If I were over 45, had smoking related risks, I'd try to get a chest CT first covered by insurance through my primary care, next find an imaging center that will do it for cash money without an MD order. My view is that a normal plain film CXR that is negative for any abnormalities would provide false assurance.

[Dr. Strangelove]

I'm so happy for this every-4-years reminder that caucuses are dumb.