It’s an hour long video but well worth the watch.  At least until YouTube pulls it down.

As you may or may not know, I have a YouTube channel.  Actually two.  One is my personal channel where I post flying videos, family video, etc.  The other channel is targeted to other network administrators or those wishing to become network administrators.  It’s more or less just a peek inside my life as a network administrator.

You can take a look here:

https://www.youtube.com/c/NetworkAdminLife

The morning of May 14th I woke up at 4am for no apparent reason.  I do that sometimes and then usually go right back to sleep.  I was just trying to get settled when I felt the bed moving.  I thought my wife was stirring but then I heard the blinds rattling against the window.  As if someone were rocking them.  I looked at my wife and she was sound asleep and the bed was still moving.  This went on for 10 seconds or so and then stopped.

It was an earthquake.  I immediately recalled the last earthquake I had felt.  You see earthquakes are rare in my part of California.  When we feel them, it’s because a strong one has struck elsewhere.  The last one we felt was the Loma Prieta earthquake which was a magnitude of 6.5 on the Richter scale.  This one felt similar so I estimated it was at least a 6.0 earthquake… somewhere.  I thought it was going to be in the San Francisco Bay Area but it turned out to be in Tonopah Nevada, and it was magnitude 6.5.

Interesting.  Tonopah has certainly had some seismic activity over the years but not much.  When the ground moves near Tonopah it’s usually due to the bombing range just to the south of Tonopah at the Tonopah Test Range.  The area is pockmarked with bomb craters.  Including some really big ones caused by ground subsidence from underground nuclear bomb tests.  It’s interesting to note that a hydrogen bomb detonated underground will cause Richter scale readings in the 6.0-7.1 range.  A recent North Korean earthquake was the result of a nuclear test.   These tests can be detected all over the earth since they make the earth’s crust ring like a bell.

I just find the timing of the “earthquake” highly suspect.  The US imposes trade tariffs.  China’s economy starts to collapse.  China somehow becomes the source of a strange new virus.  Now the rest of the world’s economy is in shambles levelling the playing field for China.  Now we have an “earthquake” which can be detected all over the world in a place that is known for testing nuclear bombs.  If you look at the location it’s a perfect place to test one.  Could it be our government sending a message to the world?  If you don’t abide by our treaties then neither will we?

Or it could have been just an earthquake.

I remember when I was younger hearing my father talk about his youth and how we had lost a lot of the freedoms in this country that he enjoyed as a boy.  At the time I couldn’t figure out what he meant.  After all, I was free.  I could go where I wanted, do what I wanted when I wanted to do it.

Until now…

Now, in the name of safety, we are prevented from going where we want, doing what we want when we want to do it.  Now, I know there are people at risk when they catch any disease and this current one is extremely contagious.  I do truly get it.  I work in a hospital.  I see the patients, I see the anxious loved ones who wait outside to talk to them on a video phone.  It is scary.  I get it.  I even have an 87 year old battling cancer living in my home.  She is very much at risk.   Heck, I’ve had pneumonia twice and could easily have died both times, I’m at risk.

And so now, to save people our government is forcing businesses to close and people to stay in their homes.  We can’t get haircuts or go out to dinner or go play golf.  However, those in positions of power are able to get haircuts, go out to dinner, and play golf.  Again, this was all done in the name of our “safety.”  But I fear they’ve had a taste, and they like what they tasted.  A population completely reliant on government.

And the media, once the champion of dissent in this country, is helping them.  All videos presenting differing viewpoints have been taken down as the Google fact-checkers have determined that these differing opinions do not represent “good science.”  A codeword meaning “agrees with the narrative”.  The fact-checkers themselves are not scientists and so aren’t qualified to decide what good science is.  Instead, they check the video for the proper political alignment.  If they don’t further the narrative of a particular political party, they are removed.  This goes for both Google and Facebook.

You are free to agree with them, but you are not free to disagree.  In fact, within my children’s life time I would not be at all surprised to see most freedoms removed in the name of safety.  They finally found an “in”.  A way to slide into socialism and have everyone cheer about it.   Americans don’t want freedom anymore, they want safety.  And that’s just sad.

It seems that WHO and CDC among others are fanning the flames of this current COVID-19 crisis.  The numbers are not what we were led to believe.  The current pandemic may actually be the second wave, not the first wave of infections.  The actual infection rate of COVID-19 is much higher than previously thought.  Which means the death rate is much lower than has been reported.

Here is a video from a doctor telling the full story…

Our city, county, and state have been under a shelter in place order due to the COVID-19 pandemic for the past three weeks but it seems much longer.  All non-essential businesses have been ordered to shut down.  This includes restaurants, beauty salons and supply stores, barbers, retail, and others.  Grocery stores, including convenience and liquor stores are still open.   City, county, and state parks are closed.  Churches are closed.  For the first time in our nation’s history, Christians will not be celebrating Resurrection Day (Easter) together at church.  It’s history being made.

I feel almost ashamed to admit that I haven’t been affected much by it as I have been deemed an “essential worker” due to my employment at the hospital.  In fact, other than a slight toilet paper scare, life has been somewhat easier for me.  There are far fewer people on the road making traffic conditions really light.  In fact, it is 1:30pm as I write this and there traffic overlay on Google looks absolutely surreal.  More history being made.

I’ve noticed other “benefits” of the stay at home order; people walking more, bicycling, especially families.  They can’t go see their friends so they have been forced to spend time together.  I think that’s a pretty good thing.  I feel really bad for the folks that have been laid off, or lost their jobs because of this pandemic.  But I can’ help feeling that when we come out of this on the other side, they will get new and better jobs if they don’t get their old job back.  It’s what happened to me last time I got laid off.

For now I will just keep reporting to work at the hospital, wear my mask and gloves when I go out of my office, and clean up real good when I return.  I have been trying to limit my interaction with doctors and nurses who tend to COVID patients.  I have an elderly mother-in-law living at home with me.  I don’t want to bring anything home to her.  However, I can’t avoid all interaction with the doctors and nurses so I just do my best to clean up afterward.

History is seldom fun when you are living it.  This year will go down in the history books for sure.  I hope China’s role is remembered well and remember correctly.  But we’ll all be able to say, “I was there during the great pandemic of 2020”.  Hopefully we’ll all be able to say “I survived”.   My prayer for everyone.