COVID-19 III: No Politics For Thee

[clifford_thornton]

oof. Too soon in my book, at least in the US. Still hunkered down over on my end.

[Soulstation1]

I agree 

[mjazzg]

1 hour ago, Brad said:

Big time sports is back as the Bundesliga restarts. Hopefully, La Liga is back soon. 

Money talks. Big money talks loudly. 

Frankly I'm fed up with all the news coverage of the "will they, won't they" with the Premiership and the return of 'top flight' football in Europe. As much as I like my football it really does fade into insignificance compared to other priorities.  Online adverts for betting companies and the Bundesliga today say it all really.

Given the privations that many are suffering right now the sight of such astronomically reimbursed, pampered sportsmen playing again at the moment actually sticks in the craw somewhat.

Bread and circuses

[Brad]

14 minutes ago, mjazzg said:

Money talks. Big money talks loudly. 

Frankly I'm fed up with all the news coverage of the "will they, won't they" with the Premiership and the return of 'top flight' football in Europe. As much as I like my football it really does fade into insignificance compared to other priorities.  Online adverts for betting companies and the Bundesliga today say it all really.

Given the privations that many are suffering right now the sight of such astronomically reimbursed, pampered sportsmen playing again at the moment actually sticks in the craw somewhat.

Bread and circuses

The same thing is going on with American baseball. It’s iffy whether there will be a season. If there isn’t, it may take years for the game to recover. When many people are suffering an/or out of work, they don’t want to hear about how much money you might be losing this year. 

[Justin V]

Ugh.  My landlord was over doing some work outside and totally invaded my space.  I didn't think that I needed to mask up to get groceries from the car. 

[jlhoots]

MVD reopens in New Mexico on June 1 by appointment only.

[Brad]

1 hour ago, jlhoots said:

MVD reopens in New Mexico on June 1 by appointment only.

Ours has been closed for awhile. Anything expiring during closure has been extended for two  months. 

[felser]

1 hour ago, Brad said:

Ours has been closed for awhile. Anything expiring during closure has been extended for two  months. 

Same in PA.

[Coda]

Introducing Covid Scholar, a machine learning tool to help search text across scientific research papers:
https://scitechdaily.com/unexpected-scientific-insights-into-covid-19-from-ai-machine-learning-tool/

and the search tool:
https://covidscholar.org/

The pace of research is amazing.

[Big Beat Steve]

15 hours ago, mjazzg said:

Money talks. Big money talks loudly. 

Frankly I'm fed up with all the news coverage of the "will they, won't they" with the Premiership and the return of 'top flight' football in Europe. As much as I like my football it really does fade into insignificance compared to other priorities.  Online adverts for betting companies and the Bundesliga today say it all really.

Given the privations that many are suffering right now the sight of such astronomically reimbursed, pampered sportsmen playing again at the moment actually sticks in the craw somewhat.

Bread and circuses

Exactly.

What i wrote in another Corona virus topic last week still holds:

"Yes the Bundesliga is supposed to start up again but this is not the best role model or signal to everyone else out there. Apart from the fact that it is a very slippery slope (one 2nd league team will be out already for the next 2 matches because the entire team and staff have just been quarantined again for 14 days after 3 positive cases detected) it will make others in the entertainment field wonder "why them, why not us?" Let's face it, their monetary clout with the "deciders" was decisive in enabling them to get back (even if playing to crowds of zero). Ill feelings are bound to come up even inside the sport: On Saturday I caught a lengthy discussion on French radio where a soccer representative complained bitterly about why they had to shut down (as one of only 5 countries in Europe) whereas others such as Germany etc. were able to start up again, leaving French clubs in a weakened position  etc. etc. This does NOT bode well overall. "

[Soulstation1]

Arizona DMVs opened last week

Also seems like all Buffett restaurants 

are in big trouble 
 

[felser]

1 hour ago, Soulstation1 said:

Also seems like all Buffett restaurants are in big trouble 
 

They hopefully have spent the past two months rethinking their business model, at least for the interim.

[Dan Gould]

On the positive side, today at 11:45 am I was in one of the Publix supermarkets we shop at regularly and not only was there TP on the shelves but there were a few packages left for several brands. I'm sure if I'd have arrived 30 minutes before there would have been none, as I have been conditioned to expect, as this is the very first time since this started that I saw TP at a Publix. And best news is that there was one 20-roll pack of the brand my wife prefers (long-lasting Scott's) so I really hit the jackpot.

On the negative side, from the WSJ:

Officials in the Fengman district of Jilin city, the provincial capital, on Sunday told residents they should stay at home, and shut down public spots including cinemas and karaoke bars.

The district is the second place in China to reimplement such steps since the country began to ease stay-at-home measures in early April. A week ago, Shulan, another city in Jilin province, banned public activities after a woman hired to wash police uniforms spread the virus to 21 others in a one-week period.

[Soulstation1]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/pole-dancing-hand-sanitizer-wyoming-125908187.html

 

[Justin V]

There is an ill-advised family picnic happening next weekend.  I suspected that people would drop their guard with restrictions loosening, but I didn't anticipate it happening so soon.  We aren't attending and I'm sure our absence will ruffle some feathers. 

[JSngry]

1 hour ago, Dan Gould said:

... the brand my wife prefers (long-lasting Scott's)...

Y'all need it to last for more than one use?

[Soulstation1]

IMO 

Scott TP best on market 

[medjuck]

Since I have time on my hands (ha, ha). I'll relate my escape from New York story.  (Which, of course ,you may find incredibly boring.)

On March 10 I flew Santa Barbara -Regan Airport D.C. to attend a Duke Ellington conference at Georgetown University.  People were coming from Australia, the UK, France and Scandinavia  as well as from all over US. The conference was scheduled from Wednesday-Sunday nights.

My plan was to leave via train to NY on Friday night, meet Laurie, my wife, who was flying in from SB and attend a memorial service for a friend on Saturday in Manhattan.  (At my age you go to a lot of funerals and memorial services. ),Then on Saturday night have dinner with our son, Avery,  who lives in Brooklyn   (the cultural center of the universe), go to a matinee of "Girl from the North Country"  on Sunday, see some art on Monday and fly back Tuesday.

Laurie began to suggest  that all this might not be a good idea and probably she wouldn't come to NY. 

 I flew out anyway, arrived on Tuesday night and went to a restaurant with my friend Ken Steiner from Seattle.  Schmoozed around Georgetown during the day, then met up with a lot of the attendees and we all went to a crowded club where we heard a very good local quintet do a tribute to Billy Strayhorn.  

Got up Wednesday morning to go down to the lobby of the hotel/dorm in which were staying and register there for the conference.  I checked my e-mail first and discovered the conference had been cancelled as the University was closing down.  Also Trump had closed the borders to Europeans so many attendees were  scrambling to make reservations to return home while planes were still flying. 

Those of us who were giving presentations began giving impromptu ones while at the same time changing reservations.  At that point I figured I'd still go to NY, hang out with my son for a couple of days, go to the memorial, see the play and maybe leave a day early.  

Then I got an e-mail saying the memorial was cancelled. 

Then I read on Twitter that Broadway was closing down.

Fortunately i was able to change my plane reservations at no additional charge to fly NY-SB on Saturday. Phoned my hotel and said I was coming 2 days early, went to the train station, changed my ticket for a small charge and left on the next train to Penn Station. Told my hotel that I was staying one night instead of 6. They not only didn't charge me for the cancellations but gave me an incredibly cheap rate for the one night I was there. I had dinner in a crowded restaurant (expensive Korean BBQ) with my Avery. Got up on the morning, walked to Penn Station, took the train to Newark airport and flew home via Phoenix.

Laurie met me at the airport, handed me a mask and told me she was semi-quarantining me for 2 weeks.  I'd been on 4 airplanes and  one train, hung out with a guy from what was then the most infected city in the US, spent a night in New York which was about to be the most infected city and been in 3 crowded restaurants, all in 72 hours. 

To the best of my knowledge I didn't get the virus. (I may of course just be unsymptomatic. I'm 77. Does being old make you more prone to getting the virus or just more prone to dying from it if you do get it?)  

All of which only proves that it's better to be lucky than smart. 

Edited May 18, 2020 by medjuck

[jlhoots]

Good story. I'm 79. I wouldn't (chicken) have gone at all. All of a sudden our kids are concerned about us. That's actually kind of nice.

Edited May 18, 2020 by jlhoots

[Brad]

Joe, that is one hell of a story. Better to be lucky because you’re pretty lucky.  I think the answer to your question is both, from what I’ve read.

Back in February when we were all starting to get educated, my sister was visiting her daughter in Hong Kong. When she got on the plane she cleaned every inch of her seating area just to be sure (as did most other people).  She was supposed to be moving into a new place in NY but construction was never finished so she decamped to Maine where she has a place. 

[Brad]

On 5/17/2020 at 6:22 AM, Big Beat Steve said:

Exactly.

What i wrote in another Corona virus topic last week still holds:

"Yes the Bundesliga is supposed to start up again but this is not the best role model or signal to everyone else out there. Apart from the fact that it is a very slippery slope (one 2nd league team will be out already for the next 2 matches because the entire team and staff have just been quarantined again for 14 days after 3 positive cases detected) it will make others in the entertainment field wonder "why them, why not us?" Let's face it, their monetary clout with the "deciders" was decisive in enabling them to get back (even if playing to crowds of zero). Ill feelings are bound to come up even inside the sport: On Saturday I caught a lengthy discussion on French radio where a soccer representative complained bitterly about why they had to shut down (as one of only 5 countries in Europe) whereas others such as Germany etc. were able to start up again, leaving French clubs in a weakened position  etc. etc. This does NOT bode well overall. "

Article in the New York Times by their football columnist about the return of the Bundesliga.

This Is What Watching Sports Looks Like Now

[ghost of miles]

Some hopeful news on the vaccine front.

[Guy Berger]

On 5/17/2020 at 11:19 AM, Dan Gould said:

On the negative side, from the WSJ:

Officials in the Fengman district of Jilin city, the provincial capital, on Sunday told residents they should stay at home, and shut down public spots including cinemas and karaoke bars.

The district is the second place in China to reimplement such steps since the country began to ease stay-at-home measures in early April. A week ago, Shulan, another city in Jilin province, banned public activities after a woman hired to wash police uniforms spread the virus to 21 others in a one-week period.

Let me flip this, it's actually *relatively* good news - places that have managed to significantly reduce cases can now catch and end outbreaks early.

 

21 hours ago, medjuck said:

 To the best of my knowledge I didn't get the virus. (I may of course just be unsymptomatic. I'm 77. Does being old make you more prone to getting the virus or just more prone to dying from it if you do get it?)  

All of which only proves that it's better to be lucky than smart. 

More prone to both, I believe.  Glad you are ok.

5 hours ago, ghost of miles said:

Some hopeful news on the vaccine front.

Generally I am an optimist on the vaccine as in we will develop an effective one and the public will be able to get it sometime next year.  (It will take a long time to manufacture doses.)

Maybe in the interim we'll also get some useful therapeutics.

Unfortunately, there will be a lot more deaths in the meantime.

[Soulstation1]

Ok at fast food earlier 

Girl makes the drinks / Frys and takes the

money and never changes the gloves 

[Guy Berger]

A lot of places around here have gone cashless, which would avoid that problem... but I’m guessing a lot of lower-income folks don’t have cards or smartphones