A work colleague of mine came back over the weekend and decided to do some shopping in her local supermarket (Morrisons, if you're in the UK) in a fairly well to do area. Shelves were decimated, so she rang up the branch down the road in a poor part of the city and was told they had loads of stock. Simple reason - poor people cant afford to spend £200 on shopping as they live hand to mouth....I did mine 2 weeks ago as I saw this coming, mainly because I didnt want to leave the house if I didnt need to for food.
General / Off-Topic Interesting Times.
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A work colleague of mine came back over the weekend and decided to do some shopping in her local supermarket (Morrisons, if you're in the UK) in a fairly well to do area. Shelves were decimated, so she rang up the branch down the road in a poor part of the city and was told they had loads of stock. Simple reason - poor people cant afford to spend £200 on shopping as they live hand to mouth....I did mine 2 weeks ago as I saw this coming, mainly because I didnt want to leave the house if I didnt need to for food.
Spoke to someone i know who has their own small games company, only 8 people and he's got everyone working from home, no issues says it's really good.I asked how he'd feel if he was back working for Rockstar and how they'd cope. Said he thought it was still possible to sort out but obviously much more of a challenge.
I suspect FDev will be running around with their pants on first trying to sort this out as we speak. If they can get Fleet Carriers out (maybe a big if) I guess they'll have quite the captive audience!
I see Steam as a whole is absolutely booming at the moment. How long til the internet falls over?
I suspect FDev will be running around with their pants on first trying to sort this out as we speak. If they can get Fleet Carriers out (maybe a big if) I guess they'll have quite the captive audience!
I see Steam as a whole is absolutely booming at the moment. How long til the internet falls over?
Well every medical journal on the subject ive read say that the Covid-19 Virus comes from bats and the outbreaks origin was China. I personally would not believe what the CCP have to say about this, it's clear that damage control has started and the counter information is beginning to flow.
But i agree, nothing will ever come of it even if irrefutable evidence existed. Money talks.
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It also gets the poo off your toothbrush!
Mate you really are doing that wrong.
One of my mates was telling me something very interesting.
In mid December his mother was rushed to hospital near Liverpool in the UK, suffering from a dry cough, fever and pneumonia in both lungs. She survived but was in intensive care. The rest of the family also fell ill with this "flu" but didnt need hospitalisation. A week earlier my mates dad had received a new laser cutter from a factory based in Wuhan China.
At the time, Corona Virus was not publicly known about. The factory were the laser cutter came from, was situated less than a kilometer from the wet market that was reputedly the source of the outbreak.
Does make you wonder if this thing has actually been percolating in the UK since then, possibly a different strain.
Interestingly i was ill around christmas with a dry cough and fever. I put it down to man flu, but maybe it wasnt.
In mid December his mother was rushed to hospital near Liverpool in the UK, suffering from a dry cough, fever and pneumonia in both lungs. She survived but was in intensive care. The rest of the family also fell ill with this "flu" but didnt need hospitalisation. A week earlier my mates dad had received a new laser cutter from a factory based in Wuhan China.
At the time, Corona Virus was not publicly known about. The factory were the laser cutter came from, was situated less than a kilometer from the wet market that was reputedly the source of the outbreak.
Does make you wonder if this thing has actually been percolating in the UK since then, possibly a different strain.
Interestingly i was ill around christmas with a dry cough and fever. I put it down to man flu, but maybe it wasnt.
This is why we need an antibody test.
If your cohort is found to test positive for the antibodies( you are immune) then it tells us you had exposure, and the level of antibodies would tell us roughly when.
There might also be clues in any medical records, like chest X-rays, and plain blood tests.
An interesting vid.
SerpentZA is worth a sub if you like travel blogs on Youtube.
SerpentZA is worth a sub if you like travel blogs on Youtube.
Sad to see more and more of America shut down.
I understand this helps stop the spread of the virus which is highly contagious, but to me it seems like an over-reaction since for most the symtoms are lighter than the common flu :-(
Hopefully there will be a silver lining above and beyond a better understanding of how to deal with a pandemic.
Here's a couple I could see coming from this outbreak:
- Many companies will realize their employees work just as well remotely as they do in the office.
This one thing could save people and companies billions, as well as reduce pollution from transportation drastically.
I myself spent over two decades visiting manufacturing facilities providing technical training and consulting that could have easily been done over the net. During that time most companies would rather you commute for 4 hours to attend a 2 hour meeting in person, rather then let you attend virtually to avoid wasting 4 hours driving.
Now, people in my old position have been asked to work at home and conduct virtual meetings for the next couple of weeks - something I don't think would ever have happened without the virus.
- People eat out less and cook and exercise more
In most places right now restaurants are only offering take-out or delivery, and as a result many people are pulling out their crock pots and insta-pots and trying new recipes.
Also, with the daily commute eliminated for many, they had been dipping their toes back into exercising, something they didn't have the time to do with their long commutes.
Not sure if this is happening all over, but it is happening in my circle of family and friends.
True, just like the numbers coming out of China are meaningless since no one trusts China to be open and honest.
And like the numbers coming out of many countries are incorrect since they use a poor test with inaccurate results.
But very soon there should be a flood of high quality tests that will be able to give the whole world much more accurate numbers.
Yeah, that's how I feel to, but more and more I'm seeing the flip side.
Still, the hotel, airline, cruise, and travel industries may never be the same.
And while I feel bad for those students who will likely loose half a year of education due to school closings, over the course of 18 years of education it shouldn't hurt them that much at all.
I understand this helps stop the spread of the virus which is highly contagious, but to me it seems like an over-reaction since for most the symtoms are lighter than the common flu :-(
Hopefully there will be a silver lining above and beyond a better understanding of how to deal with a pandemic.
Here's a couple I could see coming from this outbreak:
- Many companies will realize their employees work just as well remotely as they do in the office.
This one thing could save people and companies billions, as well as reduce pollution from transportation drastically.
I myself spent over two decades visiting manufacturing facilities providing technical training and consulting that could have easily been done over the net. During that time most companies would rather you commute for 4 hours to attend a 2 hour meeting in person, rather then let you attend virtually to avoid wasting 4 hours driving.
Now, people in my old position have been asked to work at home and conduct virtual meetings for the next couple of weeks - something I don't think would ever have happened without the virus.
- People eat out less and cook and exercise more
In most places right now restaurants are only offering take-out or delivery, and as a result many people are pulling out their crock pots and insta-pots and trying new recipes.
Also, with the daily commute eliminated for many, they had been dipping their toes back into exercising, something they didn't have the time to do with their long commutes.
Not sure if this is happening all over, but it is happening in my circle of family and friends.
True, just like the numbers coming out of China are meaningless since no one trusts China to be open and honest.
And like the numbers coming out of many countries are incorrect since they use a poor test with inaccurate results.
But very soon there should be a flood of high quality tests that will be able to give the whole world much more accurate numbers.
Yeah, that's how I feel to, but more and more I'm seeing the flip side.
Still, the hotel, airline, cruise, and travel industries may never be the same.
And while I feel bad for those students who will likely loose half a year of education due to school closings, over the course of 18 years of education it shouldn't hurt them that much at all.
Dude,
Please don't worry about those of us from the USA.
People have made mistakes in EVERY country, but no country has made any that they can't fix.
The worst thing that's going to happen here in America is a recession due to so many working from home and canceling travel plans.
Worse case scenario, if no action was taken and everyone in the USA got Covid, we could lose 3.3 million people. While that would be horrible, and much higher than the 2.5 million we lose each year, it would be mostly people who are already out of school or work due to compromised immune systems. So even if nothing was being done, the effects wouldn't effect the ability of Americans to work through it.
On the bright side, we'll likely see many fewer deaths from the virus and flu this year than we see in our worst flu seasons.
And more good news is the government is streamlining approving unemployment benefits for those who do lose their jobs.
And while many stores are out of some commodities, as long as manufacturers keep making products we're going to be fine.
Having visited thousands of manufacturing facilities in the last thirty years, I can tell you most don't need to gather employees into large groups to keep plants running.
And our manufacturing is widely distributed around the country.
Most don't even realize they have large bakeries, paper mills, and other manufacturers locally. Well, unless they work there.
You know, Americans are like siblings who argue a lot but are also fiercely loyal and protective of each other.
We are one of the few countries in the world that is mostly made up immigrants from every corner of the earth.
tldr - We will be fine, so please don't worry about us, we're not as divided and incompetent as the news media portrays us.
PS - Honestly, the biggest issue right now is losing Tom Brady to the Bucs ;-)
I've had the same thoughts.
It seems odd to shut down a large portion of the USA for a flu virus that mostly effects older folks.
I would have though it better to just ask those vulnerable to self quarantine?
But on the other hand, learning how to mitigate the spread of this virus will definitely help if a more deadly virus comes our way.
I hear that, but we should have a vaccine and treatments next year so things should go smoother ;-)
o7
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The whole point of this so-called "social distancing" strategy is to buy time, both to develop a vaccine and to relieve stress on the health-care system.
Another interesting and helpful video:
And When The Fed
Cut Rates To Zero.....
They Saaaaw, they Saaaaw, That There Still Wasn't Any Toilet Paper....
Cut Rates To Zero.....
They Saaaaw, they Saaaaw, That There Still Wasn't Any Toilet Paper....
The value of physical social networks:
My best friend brought me twelve rolls of toilet paper.
My best friend brought me twelve rolls of toilet paper.
Public transport is being greatly reduced in the STL metro region of about 3 million. They are cutting back to their weekend, reduced schedule, for a start.
Murphy's Law...
You win the lottery but cannot collect as the lottery headquarters is closed due to the Corona virus.
You win the lottery, the lottery headquarters is open, and you get the Corona virus.
You lose the lottery and get the Corona virus just buying the ticket.
Oh well with lots of people staying home plenty of time to play ED! Make some new friends.
Regards
You win the lottery but cannot collect as the lottery headquarters is closed due to the Corona virus.
You win the lottery, the lottery headquarters is open, and you get the Corona virus.
You lose the lottery and get the Corona virus just buying the ticket.
Oh well with lots of people staying home plenty of time to play ED! Make some new friends.
Regards
Conspiracy theory 1:
Makes you wonder who’s in control of world policy doesn’t it. Short term methods to stay alive and don’t worry about how it affects things in the long term because they will be gone by then anyway
Unfortunately there is also now an exponential number of people who are seriously infected with the virus and who are under the age of 60.
Nobody they are all making it up as they go.
Short term methods to stay alive and don’t worry about how it affects things in the long term because they will be gone by then anyway
You can't trust those who are too dim to understand how or why to protect themselves or self isolate to actually self protect or isolate. So the only way to protect the vulnerable is to apply the rules to everyone.
So enforced quarantine is the only method that works, ease people into it at first with voluntary stuff then add enforced stuff along with fines/prosecution for breaches later so people don't panic. The problem with that is the period when people are eased into it allows more spread.
It could have been the government plan all along, more likely it was just adapting to circumstances.
There is an article on the bbc asking how many of the forecast 250-500,000 were already likely to die. About 600,000 people die in the uk each year anyway and no one is mitigating any of the covid figures against this.
Forcing people to isolate only slows things down to allow the nhs to cope a little better, while probably causing tension and unrest among a lot of people due to the years of austerity to come. Look how some European countries reacted last time they were told there was no money and everyone has to cut back
Forcing people to isolate only slows things down to allow the nhs to cope a little better, while probably causing tension and unrest among a lot of people due to the years of austerity to come. Look how some European countries reacted last time they were told there was no money and everyone has to cut back
It doesn't mostly affect older folk, even if the effects are most severe among the elderly.
Simply having the elderly self-quarantine won't do much to protect anyone else, would not keep serious cases to manageable levels, and would not even be broadly practical for the elderly are also frequently dependent on outside aid.
The whole "do nothing meaningful, until it's too late" option has been tried; it doesn't work well, if the goal is to minimize socioeconomic impact. Tons of people, many of them who didn't need to, dying in short order has plenty of negative impact itself...certainly more than any rational mitigation and all mitigations are ultimately about minimizing that impact. All of the powers that be see lives as a collection of statistics and if letting assloads of people suffocate to death was what was going to make them the most money, keep them in office, and keep the masses content, that's exactly what they would do.
Refraining from implementing meaningful restrictions, or only offering recommendations, is certainly the least impactful on individual liberties (well, at least for those not drowning in their own mucus...who, if they could speak, might clamor for the right to live or access to a ventilator), but almost any such position also involves fallaciously downplaying risks, because being honest about the realities of such a position and still clinging to it seems utterly insane to most people, even most Americans. I know this because people think I'm nuts for placing my, and their, freedom above safety and security.
'World policy' is a collection of reactionary measures, by those with power, to protect their assets (which includes each and every tax payer or consumer) from unforeseen (but rarely unforeseeable) threats that crop up. That the policies of many entities end up looking similar isn't due to any conspiracy or hidden collusion, just the fact that they all have similar goals, similar materials to work with, and face similar threats.
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