Pessimistic Uber/Lyft driver here. Every weekend, I have multiple drunk passengers who lose their masks at the bar/club/orgy and I have to choose between declining the ride (and their money) or providing them with an inexpensive covering for their disease-spewing face hole. In for one.
@bobell A sincere thank you for your service and providing masks. It s-cks you provide them with masks and somehow they will take a star of two off your rating. But I’m sure they always leave a nice tip, right? (I don’t know how you manage to chill out enough to do that job.)
@elfunkman@phendrick well, I always mask up. And yes, I am vaccinated and wear a stylish KN95, also acquired from meh.com. I’ve also heard things about taking vitamins C and D every day, but I’ve been doing that for years so I guess I’m a bit of a hipster in that sense?
@bobell@elfunkman As I’ve gotten older, I’ve put an emphasis on vitamins and other supplements, especially those noted for contributing to healthy digestion or immune system.
Lately I’ve started drinking aloe vera juice drinks which seem to help my stomach (and colon and related). (I seem to have inherited diverticulitis from my mother – wish she were still around for me to talk with her about it). I’ve been a fan of aloe vera externally for a long time.
As with anything else, too much might not be a good thing. But some seems good, at least for me. I like the OKF brand. https://www.walmart.com/ip/OKF-Organic-Aloe-Drink-w-Pulp-16-9-Fl-Oz-Case-of-20/40700321 Link for illustration only – I get mine at a local $1 store, for $1 per bottle, and they have about 6 flavors and I like all of them. I asked my doctor and he was not supportive, but his complaint was the added sugar that all fruit drinks have. But these have less than a typical bottle of soda does. The green tea flavor seems especially helpful to me.
They also seem to have a good effect on my throat and otherwise dry mouth.
100% of people who wear masks have drank water at some point in their lives and it has been proven that 100% of all murders have consumed water…. Masks = Murder “Sponsored by MEH”
Of my Meh purchases of Masks, one was pretty good – individually-wrapped, 4 boxes of 50 packs. I gave 2 boxes to friends, and two for myself (one by door; one in car).
Then a few weeks ago another Meh deal (with bogus UV sanitizer and sprayer thing) had so far the suckiest masks. The mask material might be OK but the elastic straps are spot-welded on to the edge of the mask and pop off with the slightest stress, such as trying to put it on an average U.S.-person-size-big-head. I think I tried 3 so far and 2 popped off within the first minute or two (and my head is not THAT big)
@pmarin if it makes a hole where it pops off I just tie the ear loop through the hole and use it for the rest of the day. But they’re cheap enough to just throw away if you don’t wanna go through the hassle of tying it
@phendrick@hchavers I’m pretty sure most politicians would love for this to end asap. Also, I think the science is pretty clear that wishing, wanting, or choice of political party means little to this virus. It’s kryptonite is the currently the vaccines and until we get our vax rates up, masks have been proven to slow its transmission.
@katbyter Thanks for the link. I had not seen any mention of later variants (just bemoaning of counts and %ages of ICU beds left).
I think the news critters would serve us better if they gave some idea of the breakdown of the new infections – e.g. is it area-wide in our community or just in certain sections of the town(s)? They give some breakdown by age, but not by social status or ethnicity. I don’t want to sound racist or ageist, but it is a practical matter. They report vaccination numbers by race, why not infections? I suspect there would be a strong correlation between vaccinated status and infected status. They tell us what % are below age 24 (or whatever), but not how many of those are college students (we have a very high college student population in this community). Should I avoid all younguns, or just those parking their Hummers and Bummers? Is it a high % of old people like me who have gotten their CV shots and so feel brave enough to shop, or mostly shut-ins who have their unthinking relatives visiting? I find the raw numbers very unenlightening without further analysis. (But that won’t sell cars on air.)
Another stat that could be very telling: What % of the total population have now been infected (or suspected so)? I.e., where are we now with “herd immunity” (if there really is such with a mutating virus)?
I hope the variants run out before reaching Zed, if not sooner. (Or would that be Omega? Kinda ominous…)
@phendrick Here in Illinois our public health department shows those ethnic breakdown numbers, although a map would be very useful. Try checking your state’s publc health department’s website. It seems this level of tracking has been delegated to the individual states. When this all started I thought we’d be getting this level of tracking at the national level as was promised when tests were being developed (remember the promise of Google’s involvement ), but they were too busy denying Covid was even a danger to the country. So it seems the states took over and depending on where you live YMMV It’s been a mess since the start IMHO.
KN95’s are better. I guess unless you are an Uber driver trying to stay alive while paying bills… EWWW Drunk Dumb asses in your Car, and here I thought being a Nurse was dangerous enough. Stay safe, People. Please wear a mask, even if you have to ignore our Idiot Governor Abbott…
@Mandamm KN95 are better for protecting yourself as they filter all the air in and (if fitted properly.) These mask only work if all the people around you are also masked, by stopping droplets when you exhale and shielding you a bit. They only provide a little protection if everyone around you is unmasked as there is a lot of leakage around the edges when you inhale.
@Mandamm Abbott did not say to not wear a mask. He said to not make anyone wear a mask. Big difference. And that only applied to governmental entities. As opposed to other states where mandates applied to private companies and even religious groups.
When I first got my motorcycle operator’s license, helmets were mandatory. A few years later, legislation made them not mandatory for adults. I supported the change, but still thought anyone not wearing one was pretty stupid. I wore one 99% of the time when riding. (Might go up or down the block without one, but didn’t usually hit 80 doing that.)
I thought not wearing proper footwear was even more stupid on a MC than not wearing a helmet. But I don’t recall nanny nurses calling for laws against riding barefoot or with shower shoes (which I do see a lot from my local high IQ college students).
And, ever see a biker on the highway without proper eye protection? Nah, didn’t think so. Right.
Trying to make stupid people not do stupid things is a losing proposition.
@Mandamm@phendrick I’ve always thought the people who don’t wear helmets on their motorcycles are doing the helmets a favor, as those helmets wouldn’t be protecting anything in a crash other than an empty container.
@katbyter Great question! My quick search indicates that it does not melt, but will only burn. I probably missed it in the specs. Perhaps it’s a blend & not 100% cotton?
I’d really prefer to not buy 200 masks based on pseudo/false claims about their production and/or materials.
@elfunkman Thanks @Kerig3 for interesting melt blown mask info. The melt-blown extrusion process is a single-step process that uses a stream of high-velocity air to blow a molten thermoplastic resin from an extruder die tip onto a conveyor. Not cotton.
@elfunkman@katbyter@Kerig3 Yeah, one way quilters test fabric if they’re unsure of the fiber content is to singe a thread. Cotton will just burn to ash. Synthetics will melt and form a little molten ball. So “melt-blown cotton” is a lie.
Awesome deal, thanks Meh peeps! Have a few indoor events this fall with mask restrictions and will need these for the inevitable throngs of folks who are seemingly unaware of our local mandates. Sharing is caring!
No way the mask can be made from melt blown cotton. In order to have a melt blown product it has to melt. Cotton will not melt. Polyester will melt but not cotton. Maybe it should be melt blown polyester
Viral Filtration Efficiency (VFE), Bacterial Filtration Efficiency (BFE).
VFE rating would be more useful to know since Coronavirus is … a virus. I guess these are less effective than KN95 or N95 rated masks.
@HankB33 these aren’t KN95. These appear to be your standard masks that will keep the germs from flying out of your face holes, when worn properly, not the kind that will filter the germs out of the air going into your face holes.
@ezrich I just tried one more from the batch of 50 “KN-95 masks” a few months ago. (they were the folded ones; not the flat pleated ones like this deal).
I tried getting it over my average-size (for U.S.) male head, hat size about 7 1/4, and totally uncomforable. Messing with it, one strap pulled loose at one attach point. So I had one loop and a string.
I decided to take the end of the “string” from the broken side, now quite long, and make a knot and tie it to the middle of the loop on the “good” side. Essentially giving me a behind-the-head elastic strap. It’s working fine at the moment and actually fairly comfortable. So I might even do this to ones that don’t break, as I prefer the behind-the-head (like the 3M N95s when you could get 'em) rather than the ear-loop style. Oh, it might not work as well on the “flat” style like this one,as it depends on equal tension pulling all 4 corners. On the “snout” style KN95s, it holds its form pretty well which is why that probably worked OK fo rme.
Pessimistic Uber/Lyft driver here. Every weekend, I have multiple drunk passengers who lose their masks at the bar/club/orgy and I have to choose between declining the ride (and their money) or providing them with an inexpensive covering for their disease-spewing face hole. In for one.
@bobell A sincere thank you for your service and providing masks. It s-cks you provide them with masks and somehow they will take a star of two off your rating. But I’m sure they always leave a nice tip, right? (I don’t know how you manage to chill out enough to do that job.)
@bobell @elfunkman Talk about a quandary – buy cheap masks to give away, or self-protect with some decent ones?
If you get real pessimistic, you could offer a Clorox cocktail, or would that act too fast before you got paid?
@bobell @elfunkman Everybody did recognize the sarcasm there, hunh? (Before I get called to the principal’s office.)
@elfunkman @phendrick well, I always mask up. And yes, I am vaccinated and wear a stylish KN95, also acquired from meh.com. I’ve also heard things about taking vitamins C and D every day, but I’ve been doing that for years so I guess I’m a bit of a hipster in that sense?
@bobell @elfunkman As I’ve gotten older, I’ve put an emphasis on vitamins and other supplements, especially those noted for contributing to healthy digestion or immune system.
Lately I’ve started drinking aloe vera juice drinks which seem to help my stomach (and colon and related). (I seem to have inherited diverticulitis from my mother – wish she were still around for me to talk with her about it). I’ve been a fan of aloe vera externally for a long time.
As with anything else, too much might not be a good thing. But some seems good, at least for me. I like the OKF brand. https://www.walmart.com/ip/OKF-Organic-Aloe-Drink-w-Pulp-16-9-Fl-Oz-Case-of-20/40700321 Link for illustration only – I get mine at a local $1 store, for $1 per bottle, and they have about 6 flavors and I like all of them. I asked my doctor and he was not supportive, but his complaint was the added sugar that all fruit drinks have. But these have less than a typical bottle of soda does. The green tea flavor seems especially helpful to me.
They also seem to have a good effect on my throat and otherwise dry mouth.
100% of people who wear masks have drank water at some point in their lives and it has been proven that 100% of all murders have consumed water…. Masks = Murder “Sponsored by MEH”
@Num1Zero
IDK, you may want to fact check your info. Jus sayen…!
Of my Meh purchases of Masks, one was pretty good – individually-wrapped, 4 boxes of 50 packs. I gave 2 boxes to friends, and two for myself (one by door; one in car).
Then a few weeks ago another Meh deal (with bogus UV sanitizer and sprayer thing) had so far the suckiest masks. The mask material might be OK but the elastic straps are spot-welded on to the edge of the mask and pop off with the slightest stress, such as trying to put it on an average U.S.-person-size-big-head. I think I tried 3 so far and 2 popped off within the first minute or two (and my head is not THAT big)
@pmarin oof. I got those in the bundle and haven’t tried them yet. And I have a big head.
@pmarin if it makes a hole where it pops off I just tie the ear loop through the hole and use it for the rest of the day. But they’re cheap enough to just throw away if you don’t wanna go through the hassle of tying it
“They’re baaack!”
(Cause, it’s baaack!)
========
You have overstayed.
Covid, covid, go away.
Come back 'nother day.
(…er, century)
Delta, screw you much,
(has Echo come here just yet?)
don’t want to be F’d
@phendrick Um, the politicians and the pharmaceuticals will never let it leave.
@phendrick they’re using the Greek alphabet, and apparently were up to at least lambda. https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/how-concerns-should-we-be-about-the-lambda-coronavirus-variant/ar-AANsBqn
@hchavers Go away and take your ignorance with you.
@phendrick @hchavers I’m pretty sure most politicians would love for this to end asap. Also, I think the science is pretty clear that wishing, wanting, or choice of political party means little to this virus. It’s kryptonite is the currently the vaccines and until we get our vax rates up, masks have been proven to slow its transmission.
@elfunkman @hchavers @phendrick I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t. So now whose right? Your baseless opinion, or mine?
@ajhaag @elfunkman @phendrick Actions and words tell inner feelings, desires, and intentions. Can you get through all the pundit flack?
@katbyter Thanks for the link. I had not seen any mention of later variants (just bemoaning of counts and %ages of ICU beds left).
I think the news critters would serve us better if they gave some idea of the breakdown of the new infections – e.g. is it area-wide in our community or just in certain sections of the town(s)? They give some breakdown by age, but not by social status or ethnicity. I don’t want to sound racist or ageist, but it is a practical matter. They report vaccination numbers by race, why not infections? I suspect there would be a strong correlation between vaccinated status and infected status. They tell us what % are below age 24 (or whatever), but not how many of those are college students (we have a very high college student population in this community). Should I avoid all younguns, or just those parking their Hummers and Bummers? Is it a high % of old people like me who have gotten their CV shots and so feel brave enough to shop, or mostly shut-ins who have their unthinking relatives visiting? I find the raw numbers very unenlightening without further analysis. (But that won’t sell cars on air.)
Another stat that could be very telling: What % of the total population have now been infected (or suspected so)? I.e., where are we now with “herd immunity” (if there really is such with a mutating virus)?
I hope the variants run out before reaching Zed, if not sooner. (Or would that be Omega? Kinda ominous…)
@phendrick Here in Illinois our public health department shows those ethnic breakdown numbers, although a map would be very useful. Try checking your state’s publc health department’s website. It seems this level of tracking has been delegated to the individual states. When this all started I thought we’d be getting this level of tracking at the national level as was promised when tests were being developed (remember the promise of Google’s involvement
), but they were too busy denying Covid was even a danger to the country. So it seems the states took over and depending on where you live YMMV It’s been a mess since the start IMHO.
KN95’s are better. I guess unless you are an Uber driver trying to stay alive while paying bills… EWWW Drunk Dumb asses in your Car, and here I thought being a Nurse was dangerous enough. Stay safe, People. Please wear a mask, even if you have to ignore our Idiot Governor Abbott…
@Mandamm KN95 are better for protecting yourself as they filter all the air in and (if fitted properly.) These mask only work if all the people around you are also masked, by stopping droplets when you exhale and shielding you a bit. They only provide a little protection if everyone around you is unmasked as there is a lot of leakage around the edges when you inhale.
@Mandamm Abbott did not say to not wear a mask. He said to not make anyone wear a mask. Big difference. And that only applied to governmental entities. As opposed to other states where mandates applied to private companies and even religious groups.
When I first got my motorcycle operator’s license, helmets were mandatory. A few years later, legislation made them not mandatory for adults. I supported the change, but still thought anyone not wearing one was pretty stupid. I wore one 99% of the time when riding. (Might go up or down the block without one, but didn’t usually hit 80 doing that.)
I thought not wearing proper footwear was even more stupid on a MC than not wearing a helmet. But I don’t recall nanny nurses calling for laws against riding barefoot or with shower shoes (which I do see a lot from my local high IQ college students).
And, ever see a biker on the highway without proper eye protection? Nah, didn’t think so. Right.
Trying to make stupid people not do stupid things is a losing proposition.
@Mandamm @phendrick I’ve always thought the people who don’t wear helmets on their motorcycles are doing the helmets a favor, as those helmets wouldn’t be protecting anything in a crash other than an empty container.
OH MY GOD, THEY MASKED GLEN!
@PooltoyWolf
I was a bit late on this one. Thanks for stepping up. It’s a dirty job, but it needs to be done…
@PooltoyWolf With the mask, how can you be sure that’s Glen?
@shahnm Happy to help LOL
@macromeh @PooltoyWolf He has a certain… musk…
Two Hundred For Tueshundred day… Only it’s Sunday.
@OnionSoup Not even Sunday yet here…
It’s just one of those other days that end in ‘Y’ @OnionSoup @pmarin
Melt blown cotton? Does cotton melt?
@katbyter well, Meh is located in Texas. Maybe cotton melts there.
@hchavers @katbyter Except in February when it now apparently snows there.
@hchavers @katbyter @Kerig3 But don’t dare mention man-made climate change.
@katbyter Great question! My quick search indicates that it does not melt, but will only burn. I probably missed it in the specs. Perhaps it’s a blend & not 100% cotton?
I’d really prefer to not buy 200 masks based on pseudo/false claims about their production and/or materials.
@elfunkman Thanks @Kerig3 for interesting melt blown mask info. The melt-blown extrusion process is a single-step process that uses a stream of high-velocity air to blow a molten thermoplastic resin from an extruder die tip onto a conveyor. Not cotton.
https://www.thomasnet.com/articles/machinery-tools-supplies/what-is-melt-blown-extrusion/
/giphy not cotton
@elfunkman @katbyter @Kerig3 Yeah, one way quilters test fabric if they’re unsure of the fiber content is to singe a thread. Cotton will just burn to ash. Synthetics will melt and form a little molten ball. So “melt-blown cotton” is a lie.
To make Glenn (yes, the hand-puppet we love) wear a mask inside and out makes perfect since to those in power. Just saying.
@hchavers “Just sayin” what? Oh, nevermind actually.
Meh, did anyone at Meh actually try these masks to find out whether the ear loops fall off or do not fall off?
Who was that masked man?
Real question: ear-loop size.
Awesome deal, thanks Meh peeps! Have a few indoor events this fall with mask restrictions and will need these for the inevitable throngs of folks who are seemingly unaware of our local mandates. Sharing is caring!
/giphy dull-ludicrous-top
VAN MURALS! GROUND SQUIRRELS! SPIT CURLS! AWESOME!
@nayten Well, hello Big Bang.
Get your money back or get your glue gun out. You have some work to do!
Good luck with that.
No way the mask can be made from melt blown cotton. In order to have a melt blown product it has to melt. Cotton will not melt. Polyester will melt but not cotton. Maybe it should be melt blown polyester
@Thebigtank What is Melt-Blown Extrusion and How is it Used for Making Masks?
The map of who’s buying these is really telling… Just saying
@zxinfinity True - especially if you zoom in on the states and look at the counties.
Specs
What’s Included?
Price Comparison
$30 (Similar) at Amazon
Warranty
90 days
Estimated Delivery
Friday, Sep 3 - Tuesday, Sep 7
Viral Filtration Efficiency (VFE), Bacterial Filtration Efficiency (BFE).
VFE rating would be more useful to know since Coronavirus is … a virus. I guess these are less effective than KN95 or N95 rated masks.
@HankB33 these aren’t KN95. These appear to be your standard masks that will keep the germs from flying out of your face holes, when worn properly, not the kind that will filter the germs out of the air going into your face holes.
Pass it looks like a strap on glen’s mask is missing. Strap pulled off? I also got 100 blue masks that had straps snap off immediately.
@ezrich I just tried one more from the batch of 50 “KN-95 masks” a few months ago. (they were the folded ones; not the flat pleated ones like this deal).
I tried getting it over my average-size (for U.S.) male head, hat size about 7 1/4, and totally uncomforable. Messing with it, one strap pulled loose at one attach point. So I had one loop and a string.
I decided to take the end of the “string” from the broken side, now quite long, and make a knot and tie it to the middle of the loop on the “good” side. Essentially giving me a behind-the-head elastic strap. It’s working fine at the moment and actually fairly comfortable. So I might even do this to ones that don’t break, as I prefer the behind-the-head (like the 3M N95s when you could get 'em) rather than the ear-loop style. Oh, it might not work as well on the “flat” style like this one,as it depends on equal tension pulling all 4 corners. On the “snout” style KN95s, it holds its form pretty well which is why that probably worked OK fo rme.
My order arrived today and they shortchanged me 1 pack. Whoever does the packing needs to learn how to count.