Monthly Archives: March 2020

Dash-to-Dock Gnome Extension

Every time Gnome upgrades, it leaves its extensions out of date. Sometimes extensions work and some extensions needs to be updated too. Dash to dock extension for Gnome puts the left side dock on the bottom and gives me more flexibility on how to use Gnome. You can find the download page here. Then make sure that you unpack it in “~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/”.

Or you can use this command:

$ git clone https://github.com/micheleg/dash-to-dock.git

to download the package. Make sure you have it unpacked in the directory above. Use the command:

$ make install

Then restart Gnome with alt+F2 type R. If you are using Wayland like me, just reboot.

COVID-19 Update 2 – What Works?

the new facebook look

I enabled the new facebook format the other day and I am getting used to the new format now. In these days of social distancing and balancing what it means to interact with other people but still survive the encounter, we have arrived in a watershed. Social interaction for its own sake and for what, for the Likes? For the hits? It’s not the same world anymore.

I watched a youtube clip of a father coming home to his son. His son ran towards the father but was abruptly made to stop with a wave of the hand. The boy’s energy disappeared and the father fell on his knees unable to take the situation. It is the threat of COVID-19. The father is a medical worker.

The trolls are still here. Here in my tweeter feed and my facebook timeline, they still fester. Those that forward fake news still do. My hope is that those who know better survive these apocalyptic times. Italy just hit a 10,000 deaths daily level in their fight with the virus. I can’t imagine living in a place where 10,000 people die in a day. If experts are right about the COVID-19 trajectory the rest of the world will follow Italy in 2 weeks.

South Korea is having much success in handling this pandemic without using draconian measures like restrictions in travel and socializing. What they did however happened before the virus struck. They learned from SARS and quickly adapted their system of healthcare to quickly respond to viral outbreaks. First they did away with privacy when it comes to community health issues. Then they tested aggressively. They have personal protective equipment ready for their frontliners. If a citizen is showing symptoms, he visits a test kiosk. All relevant contact tracing information are extracted from him. The test results are sent to him via sms but most importantly all individuals he came in contact with are also notified to go to a test kiosk for testing. The South Korean economy doesn’t have to take a beating. It’s hospital system is able to handle 9,600 cases (so far) with only 152 deaths.

I live in the Philippines. Here the government chose to close the shops and malls. No public transportation. There were travel restrictions especially in Luzon, the biggest island. Food trucks are allowed. But basically, in the Philippines, if you disrupt the public roads and highways, you will get distribution problems. We have 1,418 cases and 71 deaths. These numbers are too low when you compare it to the total population. We are not testing citizens. Certainly not in big numbers to have a good feel on where we stand right now. A prolonged community quarantine will further drive the economy down. The low wage workers, the daily workers are feeling very scared now.

The Doctors, Nurses and Medical Staff Are Dying

11th day of the community quarantine due to the corona virus COVID-19 and the official count is 600 official cases thoughout the country. The Philippines have not spiked yet. This is not yet the full blown curve everyone is predicting. Countries like China, Italy, Spain and USA are seeing numbers spikes. With 100 million citizens the Philippines isn’t seeing the big numbers yet. The cases are mostly in Metro Manila. The cases are linked to travel or contact with persons who have traveled outside the country. Which means locally originated cases are rare.

Experts talk of flattening the curve and it might just work. China’s Wuhan region where the outbreak originated reports no new cases and have set a date to reopen the province from its lock down. The Philippines closed all public transportation. All jeepneys, buses, trains, planes and ships are closed for a month. The lock down extends beyond Easter celebration, an important Catholic if not Christian day.

There have been blunders like a Senate public hearing done before the quarantine had a speaker who tested positive afterwards. That speaker infected at least two senators now. The whole Senate building was quarantine and disinfected. This lead to national security implications because most of those persons under investigations of having the virus are cabinet level staffers. There’s a case of one senator who accompanied his pregnant wife to the hospital. He exposed those medical frontliners to the virus and broke quarantine protocols. There are 9 doctors among the 36 mortalities from the corona virus as of today. The frontliners have to be protected so they can continue to serve us all.

March 2020 Under the Shadow of COVID-19

March is Mom’s birth month. Most pensioners’ system update or validate their records for each member during the month of birth. Usually it involves just showing up in their offices. This is a trying time for everyone more so to our senior citizens. So I am trying to work out a way my mom can do hers through Skype perhaps. Or maybe I can just mail the necessary documents and other requirements.

I don’t know if I can run or walk outside just for its own sake. I mean I can make food and medicine runs. But I want to exercise somehow.

It is also my birth month. What’s my birthday wish? I wish that we all survive this pandemic. I wish you and your family health.

The news updates are starting their mortality count in the country. I’m glad they include the number of those who contracted the virus and are now testing negative. Some barangays in Quezon City are becoming hot zones. Their unknowns are becoming real, real enough. It is going to get worse.

I have a daily routine now with the thermometer. I’ve been registering my temperature at 36 Celsius. Mom’s average is 35.5 Celsius. We are feeling fine.

Life in a Community Quarantine – A COVID-19 Update 1

The Philippine government announced community quarantine over Metro Manila last week. This is just a dress rehearsal for an island wide (entire Luzon) quarantine because of the COVID-19 pandemic. I live in a town of 600,000 people close to Quezon City, Metro Manila. There are checkpoints set up a scant 50 meters away from our house. The public transportation system is now closed. I can see the main road from my room window and 2 minutes pass before the next vehicle so that’s really weird. I walked early morning yesterday to buy bread and fruits. I had to walk more than 2 kilometers to see I am not going anywhere. Yes I did get my pandesal and mangoes, no worries. How long the food will stay stable is anybody’s guess.

Mother and I are communicating with my brother and sister through internet. We have electricity and water. Utilities are available. The ATM at Alfamart (the local grocery) is offline. The usual reason for that should be obvious. It is the only machine in the barangay and everyone wants to have their cash in their wallets or purses. There’s food. Some items are scarce like bread and alcohol / hand sanitizers. I’m about to do a pharmacy run for mom’s medications.

M Roger visited us yesterday for help financially. I gave him 1,000 pesos for the emergency. Everyone needs something. But it is still the first week, this thing is just starting. Most people are coping.

Remembering Jaws

In the film “Jaws“, a great white shark starts terrorizing a small island town. The people depend on tourist money. So the economy starts to head south each time the shark shows up. The mayor tries to downplay the threat and even tells his people to go out and swim despite the danger. The sheriff of course, has to protect the people and when he learned a thing or two about sharks, that’s when he sought the help of experts and scientists and the local shark hunter.

The sheriff has to read books first then he comes to the conclusion that his knowledge of sharks sucks. A scientist introduced him to a theory that sharks are territorial. That they go back to places they have visited before. The sheriff, the scientist and the town shark hunter then went out on a boat to catch and kill this shark.

This shark is a tough and huge animal. This animal is very big. The sheriff, the scientist and the shark hunter grossly misjudged the size and ferocity of this killing animal. All that it knows is to make baby sharks and to feed. The first time they saw it, they realized they need a bigger boat.

I remember now that when I first watch it, I remember how scared I was during the credits because of John Williams’ score and the underwater shots of dark water the ocean forest. I was eight.

Upgrade gcc 9.2–>>9.3

gnu compiler collection or gcc is updated to 9.3 from 9.2.

[2019-10-07 12:12] [ALPM] upgraded gcc-libs (9.1.0-2 -> 9.2.0-2)
[2019-10-07 12:12] [ALPM] upgraded gcc (9.1.0-2 -> 9.2.0-2)
[2019-10-29T07:42:32+0800] [ALPM] upgraded gcc-libs (9.2.0-2 -> 9.2.0-3)
[2019-10-29T07:42:35+0800] [ALPM] upgraded gcc (9.2.0-2 -> 9.2.0-3)
[2019-11-07T07:04:06+0800] [ALPM] upgraded gcc-libs (9.2.0-3 -> 9.2.0-4)
[2019-11-07T07:04:10+0800] [ALPM] upgraded gcc (9.2.0-3 -> 9.2.0-4)
[2020-02-12T14:50:01+0800] [ALPM] upgraded gcc-libs (9.2.0-4 -> 9.2.1+20200130-2)
[2020-02-12T14:50:02+0800] [ALPM] upgraded gcc (9.2.0-4 -> 9.2.1+20200130-2)
[2020-03-15T06:30:10+0800] [ALPM] upgraded gcc-libs (9.2.1+20200130-2 -> 9.3.0-1)
[2020-03-15T06:30:11+0800] [ALPM] upgraded gcc (9.2.1+20200130-2 -> 9.3.0-1)
[donato ~]$