ezs | Nothing of Any Quincyquonce

Going Solar – a preamble

by ezs | Mar 2, 2022 | evilzenscientist

When we moved to Issaquah, back in 2008, we moved into a new home. I’ve spent the last 14 years or so researching and tracking the financials, efficiency and availability of photo-voltaic systems. Back in 2008-2010 I spoke at length with several colleagues who had made the early jump, these homebrew solutions came with costs, risks – but happily lots of data.

We are at the point in early 2022 where we have decided to take the plunge and make a major investment in a combined photo-voltaic and battery storage system. This series of blog posts will walk through a lot of our thoughts and decisions, mainly so I can have this for future reference.

COVID – week 103 – February 28 – March 6

by ezs | Mar 2, 2022 | evilzenscientist

Weekend – with war in Europe dominating the headlines, the US and much of Europe seems to have forgotten we’re in the tail end of a pandemic.

Cases are down – but still higher than much of the last two years.

Friday – Hong Kong planning to test all residents, shops rationing some food and medicines.

Thursday – Live coverage from the Guardian looks to be over. Newsroom is focused instead on war in Ukraine.

Wednesday – the end of Omicron is being mistaken for the end of Covid.

Tuesday – the smaller, child sized, shots of Pfizer are less effective. Stops serious illness, but doesn’t prevent infection.

Monday – European war, and the potential for massive global escalation, has given The Guardian newsroom a completely different focus. No daily aggregates from The Guardian in almost a week.

This time 2021 – vaccine rollout well underway; 28M in US with two shots. A great early lead.

This time 2020 – I was in the office, running an architecture design session, no social distancing. All of the talk was about the coronavirus. 2 March 2020 – State Of Emergency declared in Washington State. Work from home officially started on 6th March.

	The Guardian	The Seattle Times
28 Feb		here
1 Mar		here
2 Mar		here
3 Mar		here
4 Mar		here
5 Mar		here
6 Mar

https://www.theguardian.com/world/series/coronavirus-live

https://www.seattletimes.com/tag/coronavirus/

Security and access tweaks

by ezs | Mar 2, 2022 | evilzenscientist

Like many other sites, large and small, well known to obscure – I’ve been getting a lot of external and malicious traffic.

Some slight tightening of security, mandating newer TLS versions and cipher suites.

COVID – week 102 – February 21 – February 27

by ezs | Feb 22, 2022 | evilzenscientist

Weekend – looks like The Seattle Times and The Guardian are down to weekday updates – which is unsurprising.

UW reporting "end of the pandemic". Locally cases are "much lower" than the peak of a few months ago.

Wednesday through Friday – Ukraine invasion. Newsrooms have put most coronavirus news way below the fold. General trend is lifting restrictions and mask requirements; continue to encourage vaccinations and boosters.

Tuesday – most COVID restrictions in UK, Ireland, US starting to be removed. On the other side – 100K new cases in Brazil. Free testing to end in England.

Monday – possible war in Ukraine has taken Covid off the headlines globally. NZ ends vaccine mandates.

This time last year – vaccination systems went online, and were swamped. 500k US deaths from COVID.

This time 2020 – this was the week when panic buying really started. Cleaning products, face masks, hand sanitiser, paper towels, toilet paper – all stripped from stores.

	The Guardian	The Seattle Times
21 Feb	here	here
22 Feb	here	here
23 Feb	here	here
24 Feb	here	here
25 Feb	here	here
26 Feb
27 Feb

https://www.theguardian.com/world/series/coronavirus-live

https://www.seattletimes.com/tag/coronavirus/

COVID – week 101 – February 14 – February 20

by ezs | Feb 16, 2022 | evilzenscientist

Weekend – potential for Ukraine invasion has bumped Covid reporting off the Guardian for the weekend. Second booster shot being considered. Queen tests positive for COVID.

Weekly infographic from The Seattle Times shows rapidly falling positive cases, and the overwhelming variant at the end of January was Omicron. Mask mandates are going away rapidly.

Friday – Omicron wave reaches South Korea. Building concern around Omicron variant BA.2 – this from BBC early in February.

Thursday – continued re-opening in the US. Washington State and King County removing mask mandates.

Wednesday – Omicron keeps heading east, across Europe, in it’s wake countries are emerging from and lifting most restrictions.

Tuesday – Canada, US, Europe – "protest convoys" and what looks to be some pretty major astroturfing.

Monday – Microsoft announce a broad plan to return to the office; most employees have been at home for two years. Flexible working will be the new normal.

This time last year – mutations, variants, "over by Christmas" which could have been the case in so many ways.

This time 2020 – still in the office, still looking at the handful of cases emerging in Washington State and New York. Regular, weekly blogging started in March 2020.