Corona Virus

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moonshadow
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Re: Corona Virus

Post by moonshadow »

Coder wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 12:15 pm
crfriend wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 11:31 am The "work from home" bit is bothersome,though. Without powerful mental restraint, and a strong ability to say, NO!" to the boss, I've found myself working positively insane shifts, and the change in mental and physical status is already apparent. Tuesday was a mild day, I only worked 9 hours; Wednesday was insane at 14; and yesterday almost as bad at 12 -- all of it with unrelenting interruptions and stress, causing nothing to get done. I'd been hoping to get some stuff done that's complex, requires a lot of design and engineering, and which hasn't gotten done in literally years. Well, that ain't going to happen... It is impossible to do good design work when you can't get more than five minutes without a distraction or a meeting. Meetings, of course, are scheduled for when they'll be most disruptive.
Same here! I’ve worked close to 15 hour shifts every day, punctuated with the brief lunch then “oh, could you help me with this”. I vow to make next week more normal - this is just an outlier.
Not so for my situation. As you can imagine, as the restaurant industry has all but ground to a halt, those few that remain have halted all maintenance spending, even government institutions are ceasing spending where possible. Work trickles in mostly from grocery stores in emergency situations.

I'm not really sure what to expect, but I wouldn't be surprised if hours are cut significantly in the coming months.

Jenn and I are debating canceling my 40th birthday getaway to Gatlinburg this December as the trip will cost over $1000 and its starting to look like I'll be burning up all of my vacation time on this dammed virus.

After vacation is used up.... I dunno. Trying not to worry, and I admit I take comfort in the fact that millions are in the same boat. Amber, who works at the local KFC has seen her and her coworkers hours slashed... everyone there is worried sick.
-Andrea
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partlyscot
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Re: Corona Virus

Post by partlyscot »

I just got back from the grocery store. Some empty shelves, but I was able to pick up pretty much all I needed. All I could carry anyway. What struck me was that pretty much everyone was keeping their distance. One notable exception was a guy, who made a point of telling two Japanese tourists that he was 83. I winced internally, and felt so helpless. Word is, Japan is getting ahead of the virus, so hope for the best for the old boy.

I also feel helpless watching the situation in the US, all I can do is wish you good luck.
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Sinned
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Re: Corona Virus

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One thing's for sure - this sit you ation has put my retirement plans on hold. My private pensions are invested in unit trusts and other instruments that are ultimately invested in stocks and shares. These having gone south in value means that my pot has, hopefully, temporarily shrunk. Might take a year or two to recover into a leaner, meaner economy. The rich will have the surplus funds to invest in relatively cheap shares. The rich get richer and the poorer .... get shafted. :(
I believe in offering every assistance short of actual help but then mainly just want to be left to be myself in all my difference and uniqueness.
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moonshadow
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Re: Corona Virus

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I think it's pretty lousy what some young people are doing, coughing on elderly folks and defying orders to clear out public spaces. The actions of these spring breakers angers me.

I've been aiming to get a little fresh air, and despite the fact that I had every intention of finding a secluded space to walk amongst nature (thus abiding social distancing rules), I fear some self-righteous "Debbie Do-Gooder" will spot me getting out of my car as they drive by, snap a photo of me in my skirt and commence to social shaming me all over the blogosphere.

Fortunately Jax is 4X4 and he can go places those nosy keyboard warriors can't reach with their Teslas. :mrgreen:

Do not worry... Moon Shadow had the upmost respect for this disease and the people most at risk.... but I've got to get the hell out of Dogde for a few hours.... God almighty....
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Coder
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Re: Corona Virus

Post by Coder »

Went to a CVS for my dad the other day (in pants). The two people in front of me were properly keeping their distance, as did I. The two fellows behind me, as well as the family with small children, were nearly breathing down my neck. I suppose in a different world I would have calmly turned around and asked them to keep their distance - but I’ve seen too many films - when the white, male, mild manner fellow turns around and asks people to follow health guidelines, and they promptly get shanked. Usually they are rich and entitled too, neither of which I am.

Sigh.
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Fred in Skirts
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Re: Corona Virus

Post by Fred in Skirts »

moonshadow wrote: Sun Mar 22, 2020 3:21 pm I think it's pretty lousy what some young people are doing, coughing on elderly folks and defying orders to clear out public spaces. The actions of these spring breakers angers me.
And for doing so should be forced to attend the needs of those elderly already affected by the virus.
moonshadow wrote: Sun Mar 22, 2020 3:21 pmI've been aiming to get a little fresh air, and despite the fact that I had every intention of finding a secluded space to walk amongst nature (thus abiding social distancing rules), I fear some self-righteous "Debbie Do-Gooder" will spot me getting out of my car as they drive by, snap a photo of me in my skirt and commence to social shaming me all over the blogosphere. Fortunately Jax is 4X4 and he can go places those nosy keyboard warriors can't reach with their Teslas. :mrgreen:
I would not worry too much about them, they are going to do that any way..
moonshadow wrote: Sun Mar 22, 2020 3:21 pmDo not worry... Moon Shadow had the upmost respect for this disease and the people most at risk.... but I've got to get the hell out of Dogde for a few hours.... God almighty....
Cabin fever is not to be scoffed at it can and will make you crazy!!! :bom:
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Re: Corona Virus

Post by Gusto10 »

beachlion wrote: Thu Mar 19, 2020 4:55 pm In the USA about a 100 persons die on a daily base from gun violence. I don't see much resolve to do something about it.
In the USA about a 100 persons die on a daily base in traffic, about 2 to 3 times more than in most developed countries. I don't see much resolve to do something about it.

Now we have the Corona virus on our hands and it seems that a human life has suddenly become more valued than a gun victim or a traffic victim.

I have trouble to see this in perspective.
a matter of causality.
One may "understand" the gun thing, one accepts the consequence of participating in traffic. One knows what a flu virus can do, but this corona one doesn't understand. if it would be resolved like how did te world come into existente, with the answer "the big bang" even though lack of proof, one could "understand" it.
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Re: Corona Virus

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Gusto10 wrote: Sun Mar 22, 2020 9:13 pma matter of causality.
One may "understand" the gun thing, one accepts the consequence of participating in traffic. One knows what a flu virus can do, but this corona one doesn't understand. if it would be resolved like how did te world come into existente, with the answer "the big bang" even though lack of proof, one could "understand" it.
Huh?

This is a matter of germ theory and high-speed transport. Both of these are well-understood.

The most likely initiator was this newly-discovered virus jumping the "species boundary" into a human who was dwelling in a very crowded corner of the world. It's rare that diseases cross the species boundary (typically that which affects one given species won't infect another species), but due to natural mutation -- and viruses mutate very quickly -- this one did, and since the humans in the area had no natural immunity to the thing (simply because it was entire new to the human world) lots and lots of people got very sick very quickly because of the crowded conditions.

Compounding that problem is the advent of air transport upon which there are very, very few restrictions. This means that a single (or several) individual can start off not knowing he's got the thing, be spreading it, and be in another corner of the world in hours. In the days of sailing ships, this wasn't much of a problem because at the end of the voyage everybody would have contracted it and those who did not perish from it would be naturally immune to it -- and not "shedding" the virus any longer.

Steamships shrank the world greatly for oceanic travel as trains shrank continents. The first truly deadly demonstration of this was the "Spanish" flu of 1917 which killed several millions of people globally -- and that was when it still took several days to cross even the Atlantic Ocean. A typical viral disease had no time to "run its course" in a week, thus spreading the problem to new continents. Nowadays, we routinely cross the Pacific in 12 hours or less -- and this exposes us to these sorts of things much more readily.

Ideally, flights would have been stopped immediately, but that may not have made all that much difference because by the time anybody realised what was going on it was already too late.

So, now we've got a worldwide mess on our hands, and we're still trying to figure out how to handle it. Eventually we'll all catch it at some point, just we catch head-colds (and this virus is in the same general family as the common cold, just with nastier symptoms that can kill the sufferer), and all we can hope for is that we develop some sort of immunity to it. A vaccine will be developed for it eventually, that that may take a year or more. Plus, if it's $500 a dose not a whole lot of people will be able to afford it. Yes, it's a mess. Are we going to lose people? Yes we will, and we already have. The best we can do is keep it to the point where various nations' health care systems can keep up.

Fortunately this particular virus seems susceptible to good old soap and water because soap attacks the membrane that keeps the virus safe when it's outside a host. If it never gets into a host organism it never replicates, and the replication process is what injures the host, potentially to the point of killing it. So, if you venture outside home, or have contact with anybody else, wash your hands so the thing won't get into you -- if you're lucky.
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Re: Corona Virus

Post by partlyscot »

I would just like to say, try your hardest to not get infected if you're in New York or other hard hit areas at the moment. Or when the virus does start hitting your area. As Carl said, most of us will get it, but you don't want to get it while your local medical service is still trying to prepare for the tidal wave. And it will be a tidal wave. The world is about to get a nasty lesson on the meaning of "exponential growth"
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Re: Corona Virus

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On the "nuisance front" here in Central Massachusetts, it seems like bottle deposits are no longer being honoured which creates a problem for me as a beer drinker. I've got three cases (two-fours) of empties in the back of my car and nowhere to get rid of them or store them. Technically they're worth $3.60, but more importantly I need a place to get them into the recycling stream as I don't want to ditch them on the side of some roadway.

As I say, this is a nuisance. The existential threat at the moment is work, or, to be more specific, the idiocy surrounding it. Then, quite a ways below that is the COVID-19 issue and the fact that I find myself startlingly isolated. The pile of empty beer-bottles in the back of my car, whilst an annoyance, is merely a very, very small blip on the RADAR.
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Re: Corona Virus

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crfriend wrote: Sun Mar 22, 2020 11:34 pm Technically they're worth $3.60, but more importantly I need a place to get them into the recycling stream as I don't want to ditch them on the side of some roadway.
Recycling is great and all, but before you resort to ditching them in a ditch, can't you just discard them in the trash?

We don't even have glass recycling here, only paper, no 1 and 2 plastics and cardboard. Glass is just thrown away, though I'm known to save jars just for the heck of it.
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moonshadow
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Re: Corona Virus

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crfriend wrote: Sun Mar 22, 2020 11:34 pm Then, quite a ways below that is the COVID-19 issue and the fact that I find myself startlingly isolated.
In my situation the restaurant industry has simply ceased, those who remain are under orders to spend no money on maintenance. We've picked up some work from grocery stores but not much.

I volunteered to take call every weekend where I'm guaranteed a certain amount of pay, in return I get Monday and Tuesdays off until this blows over.

Several of our customers have shuttered. I'll have a job, but it will likely be "part time hours" for a while. I did find out we keep our insurance which is really good news.

THIS SUCKS!

Basically all of our plans have been put on hold. No vacation getaways, no home upgrades, no riding mower. These things probably won't happen at all this year, maybe not even next. I am SO GLAD that we paid the car off and that personal loan. Those combined have freed up almost $600 per month.

2020 is all about SURVIVAL.

F--k this year!
-Andrea
The old hillbilly from the coal fields of the Appalachian mountains currently living like there's no tomorrow on the west coast.
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moonshadow
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Re: Corona Virus

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I see the federal government is back their old shenanigans.

Let's see them miss a few paychecks and see what happens!

What a useless lot!
-Andrea
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Re: Corona Virus

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by moonshadow » Sun Mar 22, 2020 6:07 pm
I see the federal government is back their old shenanigans.

Let's see them miss a few paychecks and see what happens!
They don't get paychecks, and could give a toots darn about such -- the real benefits are much more disguised-- graft, bribes, handouts, gifts and self-enrichment schemes in the revolving door of how to feed at the government trough. It is not the paycheck, but the perks & access to power that drives million dollar campaigns for $100K jobs -- not civil-mindedness. They would not miss a paycheck.

Yes, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin at Trump and crews direction are loading the larder for corporations and pockets of lobbyist interests -- while extending tokenism for working folk and the rest. Don't try to tell me they are "protecting jobs" -- it is an ultimately worker paid bailout and windfall to the investment bankers, AIG gaming outfits, aerospace government contractors on cost plus, and CEO's collecting outrageous sums for failure. Right now they are targeting $4 Trillion for the corporate world, and maybe 250 Billion for unemployment insurance funding to States. All of a sudden Walmart and Amazon have extra hourly dollars to offer new workers during this high demand for them -- but there were no dollars to pay a living wage with health care benefits their employees before -- and no doubt they will expect the Feds (us) to cover this 'crisis expense'!

Moonshadow was on target when talking about the source of the virus in a Wet-market (illegal exotic animal markets) but what he did not say was that those too are just a reflection of putting dollars ahead of anything else -- nuts who want to buy tusks to make them virile; folks who insist they must have whale meat, or other endangered critters and will pay a hundred bucks an ounce -- create markets for these critters, so poor folk without jobs chop down their jungles and raid rare critters to fill the demand in un-regulated and un-hygienic markets. The bottom line is inequality and the tensions that arise from the blatant unfairness of it. Nor is there any justice available as the courts are stacked and run by the powerful (read: money = power). When wealth is distributed to allow a humane standard of living, a working wage, before others have an unseemly excess, when empathy and cooperation are understood to bring more joy than hate and greed....well, Dream on faldaguy
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Re: Corona Virus

Post by Freedomforall »

moonshadow wrote: Mon Mar 23, 2020 12:07 am I see the federal government is back their old shenanigans.

Let's see them miss a few paychecks and see what happens!

What a useless lot!
I totally agree. They are no longer for the people. They have been too busy serving their own special interest and fattening their pockets to do their jobs. It is time for us to stick together in this country. We need an uprising and a whole new political party.
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