Corona virus

If you're not scared yet, I think there's something wrong with you. I don't know what, and that's a broad concept: 'wrong'. If you can't manage fear, start with awareness. Then maybe work towards concern. As it gets closer, and impinges more on your personal life, you'll catch up, one way or another.

As for the toilet paper/pasta/rice/hand sanitiser run, I found a rather funny meme about it:



Please take this little jab in the spirit of arch observation rather than a call to radically change any country's political inclinations. This is obviously not the time for that. We'll be lucky if that time ever comes at this rate, heh.

Related to this, a NYT feature about a dude who trekked across the US snatching up supplies to flog them at a higher-than-retail price highlights nicely the perfect capitalist 'early response':

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/14/technology/coronavirus-purell-wipes-amazon-sellers.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

TL;DR -- little amazon merchant read the room, trekked around his state scooping up supplies from mom and pop shops, and proceeded to profiteer like a boss, gouging like there's no tomorrow. Amazon shut that down, and now he's trying to look like a hero, a 'public servant'. naturally he's also looking into ways of donating but his ultimate goal is still 'to sell locally, make a small profit'. Well...that's capitalism on the small scale, isn't it? Can't blame a guy for taking care of number one. OTOH he knew he was making 'crazy money' from what is essentially a national emergency. I think that crosses a line, but eh. YMMV.

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The TP run brings me back to taking absurd things seriously. Is it a new concept? Not at all. But the risk of not doing so is now very clear, isn't it? People mocked the toilet paper hoarders because it was absurd. But if they didn't see the knock-on effect of this meaning little to no toilet paper for the 'sane' ones a few days later, they just weren't paying attention. Which is why here, about a week after the first TP run, sheepish naysayers were going out first thing in the morning trying to get a pack or two.

There was a midway place between these two, and I'd like to think I occupied it. We bought double our usual amount when the chance of a run become clear, which is a few months' worth. I still mocked the hoarders but I wasn't so committed to that to think they were 100% wrong. I still have friends who are stuck at the 'mocking' phase, which is quickly appearing to be their coping mechanism. To each their own.

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A bit further abroad, Guatamala is locking the US out. Looks to me like the 'shithole countries' are taking measure to keep their shit isolated. Good.

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Do you personally know anyone with Covid-19 yet? The GF is fairly sure a friend of hers in DC has it. Mild symptoms, thankfully, but the description fits perfectly. Another friend just has strep throat but it was obviously a tense moment for her.

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Astoundingly, Abe Shinzo is sticking to his guns over the Olympics and refuses to declare a state of emergency. Well, he might get his Neo-Tokyo Olympics but no one is going to be there. One image comes to mind...



Crazy. Just freakin' crazy.

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Foreverhappychan wrote:

If you're not scared yet, I think there's something wrong with you.

Why? If I get it I'm not dying, nor my kids. As you know, this thing doesn't kill healthy people.

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ScrotieMcB wrote:

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Foreverhappychan wrote:

If you're not scared yet, I think there's something wrong with you.

Why? If I get it I'm not dying, nor my kids. As you know, this thing doesn't kill healthy people.

Because capitalism allows people to be idiots.

Because a lack of fear enables the sort of attitude that makes one vulnerable to all sorts of side effects that can come from all sorts of angles. Paranoia is the state of 'jumping at shadows', which is obviously unhealthy too. But whatever its opposite is (complacency? Short-sightedness?), it fixates merely on the fact that shadows are 'obstructions of light, and they can't hurt me'...technically correct, but the reason people jump at shadows isn't because of the shadows. It's because of what can be lurking in them.

Honestly, at this point. The least informed, most ignorant, and most emotional folks seem to be the ones completely losing their head over it.

All leading disease experts on the matter consider it serious, but all of them agree that hoarding supplies is one of the least effective things you should do about it.

Yet, we get the occasional self-righteous posts about how to make the problem worst, rather than better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Etlyvt9n_QE

This one's for Boem. Dr Campbell absolutely eviscerates China's delayed response, the three week cover-up, and notes just how much of this could have been prevented without it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/corona-simulator/?itid=pm_pop -- REALLY excellent set of simulations as to what happens when you exercise social distancting/quarantine to slow transmission and allow 'recovery' to take over. Note that it doesn't take death into account, which, technically speaking, helps. Fewer dots, less transmission...

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Foreverhappychan wrote:

Wuhan's dealing with it is going to seem very quick in a year, Boem. It should already do so. I agree that it was far from flawless: the complete denial of the issue and the martyrdom of the very person who tried to warn them was absolutely reprehensible. If you check my older posts, which you no doubt won't, you'll see I was clearly condemning China's political handling of it. I still think they lied about the numbers. They were all terrified of pissing off Xi who could, if given the bad news, just take it out on them. That's the culture they have over there.

Not sure why people think he is a whistleblower and a martyr. Li Wenliang asked his chat group to keep the information to themselves. It was his medical school classmates that spread it online and circulated on the WeChat.

The local police investigated him and warned him he could be charged if engaging in rumor mongering. Neither him or his group of medical classmates was imprisoned or punished. His death is unfortunate but has nothing to do with that incident.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30382-2/fulltext

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Li was one of eight people detained in Wuhan for “spreading rumours”, according to Chinese media. In a video, he said he was asked to sign a statement agreeing to stop illegal activities or face legal punishment. Nevertheless, Li decided to speak out about his experience because “I think a healthy society should not have just one voice”, as he told Caixin.

But go on, pretend 'detained' doesn't mean 'imprisoned' or 'punished' in China, or that 'asked' is somehow merely asking.

Li knew the risks before almost anyone in the medical community and he *still* got in there, did his job, died doing it. If you don't want to consider that a martyr, that's fine. But I do, as do many others. You do you.

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Foreverhappychan wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Etlyvt9n_QE

This one's for Boem. Dr Campbell absolutely eviscerates China's delayed response, the three week cover-up, and notes just how much of this could have been prevented without it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/corona-simulator/?itid=pm_pop -- REALLY excellent set of simulations as to what happens when you exercise social distancting/quarantine to slow transmission and allow 'recovery' to take over. Note that it doesn't take death into account, which, technically speaking, helps. Fewer dots, less transmission...

I didn't think i made a claim anywhere that discredits campbells assertions.

My judgement of biased analysis was directed at you, you are obviously aware of your bias under these circumstances but i thought i would add some vectors either way to not make it a totally dumbed down version of "she said, he said, hear me roar, ps my life is in danger".

I don't like this "let's give china credit" when they totally don't deserve it.

Just like i don't particularly like you and others make fun of capitalism and economics when it appears to me lazy poor man jabs that either are targetted at people without knowledge or deliberatly poorly formulated to trigger people who do know.

Peace,

-Boem-

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Foreverhappychan wrote:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30382-2/fulltext

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Li was one of eight people detained in Wuhan for “spreading rumours”, according to Chinese media. In a video, he said he was asked to sign a statement agreeing to stop illegal activities or face legal punishment. Nevertheless, Li decided to speak out about his experience because “I think a healthy society should not have just one voice”, as he told Caixin.

But go on, pretend 'detained' doesn't mean 'imprisoned' or 'punished' in China, or that 'asked' is somehow merely asking.

Li knew the risks before almost anyone in the medical community and he *still* got in there, did his job, died doing it. If you don't want to consider that a martyr, that's fine. But I do, as do many others. You do you.

You can detained by the police and Held Without Charges even in Western Democracy. Something irrelevant or insignificant but an monstrous crime when China does it.

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Boem wrote:

Just like i don't particularly like you and others make fun of capitalism and economics when it appears to me lazy poor man jabs that either are targetted at people without knowledge or deliberatly poorly formulated to trigger people who do know.

Peace,

-Boem-

I can make fun of both capitalism and socialism if you like.