How do you guys save money for economic breakdown due to coronoa virus?

These are good shares. I wager most of us are savvy enough at self-entertaining even at the best of times that we've accumulated plenty of books, games, tv shows, etc to carry us through. Whether or not we emerge sane from months of that is another discussion.

I was musing the other day, actually, how differently this would play out not 50 or 100 years ago, but *in my own lifetime* 20-30 years ago. My conclusion? WE WOULD READ SO MANY BOOKS AND LISTEN TO SO MUCH RADIO.

So far the silliest thing I've done is rinse a soup bowl in the bathroom sink. Mostly I'm just trying not to hurt myself with my usual clumsiness because, yeah, the luxury of what we'd normally do after that isn't there anymore.

Hour to hour, I don't really do much differently to before. It's more the day to day that's problematic. The reality that while my lifestyle hasn't changed that much, the 'life' beyond it, surrounding it, has changed possibly irrevocably.

On the plus side, they're saying we've slowed the growth here which is great. It's definitely not visibly exponential as predicted. Just as long as we never forget that this wasn't due to overreacting, merely reacting. It's the shitty part of a crisis like this: naysayers downplay it, believers work against it and if they're successful, the naysayers can smugly claim to be right.

There is justice, but it's rarely poetic. It's usually more like a footnote in a paper the naysayers wouldn't have the intellect or impetus to comprehend anyway.
https://linktr.ee/wjameschan -- everything I've ever done worth talking about, and even that is debatable.

Huh. My mace dude is now an actual cultist of Chayula. That's kinda wild.
"
Morkonan wrote:
"
solwitch wrote:
Here some information on Zinc related to immunity...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2702361/


Thanks for that!

I can see that being the case for the elderly and others that could suffer from zinc deficiency. The most interesting bit there was the sequestration of free zinc during illness. That's kind of weird, but whatevs... :) So, "Yes, in the presence of a zinc deficiency, supplemental zinc might be helpful."

The key being a "deficiency." I wasn't assuming that when I made the above statement.

"
Vitamin D will help with inflammation which is what people are essentially dying from... It is extremely important to get it naturally, 10 minutes in the sun all you need.



It's rarer for people to get 10 minutes in the Sun these days than it used to be. :) That's been one of the main forces behind renewed interest in vitamin D supplements. (That and old people falling and breaking their hips.. only to be force-fed "Vitamin D" and then told not to take calcium supplements for fear of kidney stones and urinary tract infections... like... WTF? I guess they should just get into power-lifting or something.)

It seems that Vitamin D "deficiency" as in people who could actually be said to be below recommended levels is pretty widespread. Even among "active" young people, it's been found to be low. For older people, it's very common. Cultural traditions, diet, general population health, obesity, etc... All of these seem to be impactful: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-56297-y

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3166406/

(There is a more recent study on vitamin D and the immune system relative to influenza, but I couldn't find it in the short time I took to look for it... Since I haven't played PoE in two days and need to go catch up!)

Vitamin D is also something that is not commonly found in certain diets and foods. You could probably eat dirt and get enough Zinc. :) But, dietary sources for vitamin D aren't widespread. That's probably why it's a more popular supplement and more tested for in the doctor's office.

In summary: If a Zinc deficiency threatens, getting added Zinc is good. Getting enough of any essential vitamin/element is important.

Taking a multivitamin is likely, without more research, about the best one can do. Higher vitamin D doses "could" have a beneficial impact on the immune system. Maintaining healthy levels of all needed nutrients is A Good Thing ™. :) Those with compromised immune systems likely already know this, but... keep on top of your dietary needs, please.

And, for the thread:

Free Video Games to Play While You’re in Quarantine!

https://www.denofgeek.com/games/free-video-games-quarantine-coronavirus/

Yes, PoE made that list. :)


You guys want to hear something hilarious... Okay so when this epidemic first came out, I decided to warn everyone, "prepare for a disruption," I think I was very clear about it and some people thought I was over exaggerating or being paranoid. Even here on this forum... it’s still there.

(Before I continue, little background of myself)

I’ve done a lot of volunteer work, I’ve completed outward bound program (wilderness survival 30 days) and am currently a student. I’ve changed my major so many times it’s ridiculous. Interestingly enough the world of molecular biology hit me like a truck... It just felt right. I was fortunate enough to have an amazing teacher, and he is an old timer. I digress...

Back to story, so I had countless people tell me, "you know I think you’re taking this too far buying too much." I told them, "you know let me do me and you do you." I purchased things that the average person wouldn’t think of buying. For example, Alcohol, iodine, anti inflammatory medicines, lozenges... Yep toilet paper; not because it was essential mostly because the psychology classes I’ve taken taught me when people feel they have no control they become obsessed in gaining that control back. Hence why people hoard...

So you guys need to imagine middle of January the virus hasn’t spread it’s still in China, and I’m in the supermarket with two huge carts of stuff and everyone giving me looks like my partner and I are crazy. I even heard sone lady whisper, "they’re so ridiculous." I ignored her, and I spent around 800$... My partner was mortified, but I WAS RIGHT. It was so funny, whispered in my ear, "loves people looking at us..."

Fast forward one week...

People began hoarding, fighting; you name it... Everything on the shelves was gone. I can tell you right now I have enough supplies that I purchased in January to last me maybe another month. So when people call others paranoid or crazy... Maybe they are, maybe they’re not... Or maybe they’re like me, well educated with a statistician brain LOL. I can tell you my siblings are immensely grateful they listened to me and started early before the chaos.

I think honestly I could have just not posted anything on these forums or Facebook or not said anything. But I sincerely feel I have a responsibility to share my knowledge because it’s the right thing to do. I read ALOT, I’m not into conspiracy theories, youtubers (unless it’s reputable)... influencers etc. Some people read magazines, while a good manga or science daily article keeps me entertained. To each their own...

Well that’s my spiel, I’ve been on these forums many years... I honestly do care about everyone on here. Even if we are perfect strangers, we are all human. You be surprised how many people are alone and need someone to talk to or just hang out. Why I created the Animepub... We can all argue and bitch with each other but in the end you can see many of us talk about Anime...

Anyways, all the knowledge I have is a reflection of all the things I read and have been fortunate enough to have amazing teachers. However I have to be careful because I’m not an expert and what I write may have a negative or perhaps a positive impact; the point is I have to be collectively cognitive/mindful of what I’m posting.

I recently spoke my realtor, (in the process of buying a home) and she was worried. She picked my brain for a bit but after we talked I mentioned that we have something called a thymus, she literally said, "wtf is that?" I laughed she laughed but I wanted to calm her down and she thanked me.

Anyways just to be clear our bodies are amazing, we are not completely helpless. Why it’s important for everyone to take care of their bodies. I’ll post some more things I’ve learned, and anyone has any questions feel free to pick my brain happy to share it.







"Another... Solwitch thread." AST
Current Games: :::City Skylines:::Elite Dangerous::: Division 2

"...our most seemingly ironclad beliefs about our own agency and conscious experience can be dead wrong." -Adam Bear
Chicken just became a luxury item in Australia.
https://linktr.ee/wjameschan -- everything I've ever done worth talking about, and even that is debatable.

Huh. My mace dude is now an actual cultist of Chayula. That's kinda wild.
Here it’s toilet paper and twinkies lol
"Another... Solwitch thread." AST
Current Games: :::City Skylines:::Elite Dangerous::: Division 2

"...our most seemingly ironclad beliefs about our own agency and conscious experience can be dead wrong." -Adam Bear
Oh, we passed the TP thing a while back. It's still hard to get but the rush is over.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-26/chicken-farmers-income-avenues-as-venues-close-under-coronavirus/12090718

This helps explain the chicken issue. Basically theyre used to sending 35% of their produce to the food service industry. Well, that's somewhat dead now so they're struggling to adjust to a need to send more to supermarkets. I hope they figure it out but if not, we can work around it. Still, we made a fortnightly meal plan that relies on the availability of chicken. Which is not an unreasonable thing to do...or at least it wasn't.
https://linktr.ee/wjameschan -- everything I've ever done worth talking about, and even that is debatable.

Huh. My mace dude is now an actual cultist of Chayula. That's kinda wild.
"
solwitch wrote:
...You guys want to hear something hilarious... Okay so when this epidemic first came out, I decided to warn everyone, "prepare for a disruption," I think I was very clear about it and some people thought I was over exaggerating or being paranoid. Even here on this forum... it’s still there...(etc)<sic>


You sound like a level-headed person, more or less. :)

I tried the same kind of thing with others, but just a bit more recently. I've gotten mixed responses, but many seemed to discount warnings as being too "alarmist."

But, when the obvious issues hit the mainstream public, the panic reaction has been very real. Well, that's at least among many who formerly believed there wasn't anything to panic about. And, you know what sorts of people are the most likely to actually panic? Yup - Those who have just been faced with the realization that what they believed was true is no longer true.

Yes, any Psych 101 class is going to demonstrate on Day 1, maybe by at least Day 5, that people want to believe they have control over the things that have the most impact on their lives. And, most of us don't have that level of control. :)

People also don't generally devote large amounts of energy to something that doesn't involve that thing sitting in their own back yard. When it finally shows up at their front door and they now realize it would have been a good idea to try to have gotten some sort of "controls" in place? Oops.

I didn't buy a ton of supplies at once. I bought larger amounts than I usually do and shopped a bit more frequently in preparation for April. That's when I believed the greatest period of risk of exposure would be. That's panning out so far, sad to say. IF, after this week passes, it appears to me that the situation will warrant it, I can stretch the supplies I have now for a couple of months or longer if I go into "disaster mode." If I think the situation will be such that I can re-supply in that period, I've easily got at least a month of nutritional needs in place.

I'm not a "prepper" but this might encourage me to do a bit of that once all this blows over. Be prepared for a whole slew of new "Prepper" oriented survival-product manufacturers and sellers to start opening their doors pretty soon. :)

"
...Anyways just to be clear our bodies are amazing, we are not completely helpless. Why it’s important for everyone to take care of their bodies. I’ll post some more things I’ve learned, and anyone has any questions feel free to pick my brain happy to share it.


True anti-viral drugs are rare and only very carefully used. Developing new ones is very difficult. In short - Our bodies have a million years of a heads-tart on doing "anti-viral" and that's entirely what we depend on when a dangerous virus hits us under normal conditions. That's also generally what our modern healthcare approaches depend on as well.

Covid-19 isn't "Captain Trips." It's not "The Andromeda Strain." Our bodies can and do fight it and human bodies are, for the most part, very successful at defeating it. So, it's not an existential threat.

And, to help those out who are coming here out of a dire need for something, anything, to help fill their quarantined day...

Yes, it has finally come to pass as the prophets foretold - "Warband 2: Bannerlord" has been released!

Well, at least the Early Access program has finally opened up! Taleworlds released it a day earlier than previously planned because they didn't see the need to hold out for one more day due to many fans being in quarantine. There's a 10% discount right now and current owners of previous Mount & Blade titles will get an extra 10% on top of that.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/261550/Mount__Blade_II_Bannerlord/

(Not free, but it's been anticipated for so very long that refusing to link it would have been negligent of the needs of my fellow gamers. :))


Edit:Added - Important note because you had mentioned buying some over-the-counter medications:

Do not treat this as you would a common cold or a flu.

Covid-19 does not appear to be able to be dealt with like a Seasonal Flu virus.

One thing of particular note is that, according to some firs-hand accounts from doctors, some drugs commonly used to combat symptoms, like certain steroids, may actually make things worse. Like you, I also bought a small supply of OTC items "just in case." That included some common steroidal medicines. Be extremely careful if you have symptoms and decide to use one of these. Other OTC drugs that have anti-inflammatory results are likely fine, just be careful (I wouldn't use them) with any drugs containing steroids if you think you get the virus.
Last edited by Morkonan#5844 on Mar 30, 2020, 2:49:32 PM
We already discussed the risks of anti-inflammatory drugs in the now locked-down thread, by way of Dr John Campbell's videos (which I only watch a few times a week now, too much to take in). I take ibuprofen irregularly for my nascent gout, but it's absolutely not something you should take to reduce a fever if that fever is your body fighting off an infection that otherwise can't be dealt with (i.e. no vaccine, no known effective treatment). For those of us with deliberately reduced immune systems, it really doesn't make a difference -- a fever of 38c is serious business, whereas for others it's something you can ride out fairly easily. Well-meaning advice typically falls on deaf ears when you're immunosuppressed for a reason, beyond obvious things like keeping your vitamin D up and watching your temperature. IS folk have usually been through the wringer to get to the point where they choose to be IS over whatever has been afflicting them. We've dealt with years of well-meaning advice from non-professionals. It...gets frustrating, and then irritating, and then infuriating.

ANYWAY! :)

Meat is now a premium. All butchers have had to bump their prices up. We're strongly considering a local butcher's $100AUD pack for fortnightly meat supplies: a kilo of chicken, a kilo of sausages, a kilo of chuck steak, some wings, whatever else. Way more than we'd usually pay but apparently this is normal now. And they deliver locally so that's a big attraction.

I said I'm only watching Dr John's great videos a few times a week for updates. This is for one simple reason: I've realised just how stressed I am. It's subtle. I'm not hyperventilating or panicking. I'm just...destabilised every day somehow. My guts will roil without warning, or I'll just feel incredibly despondent. And I know I can't do anything about it other than ride it out, stay away from all of it. I had the most morbid thought late last night: if I did catch Covid-19 and couldn't get into a hospital for whatever reason, I have enough leftover prescription painkillers from years of managing post-procedure pain to bypass potentially days of suffering and skip straight to the last step. Grim huh?!

Fun little endnote then: I was casually spying on my neighbours yesterday through an upstairs window, just admiring their ability to interact and go out there and whatnot. Other people! They were playing with their cat. It was nice. Then suddenly the dad comes out without his shirt on and I was like nope, this just got weird, and turned away. Heh.


https://linktr.ee/wjameschan -- everything I've ever done worth talking about, and even that is debatable.

Huh. My mace dude is now an actual cultist of Chayula. That's kinda wild.
Just to make you all realise : saving money makes the economy going down even faster.
But there is no right answer as long we all stick to the ultra-capitalistic world we live in now, that finally shows how thin the whole foundation is. One virus and it's all going to hell.
Last edited by leto2626#2588 on Mar 31, 2020, 8:08:51 AM
Yeah, you want that other Covid-19 thread.

__

Crumpets. Right now, crumpets are my indulgence food. There may come a time when I can no longer get crumpets, but by God, as long as that time isn't now, I'm going to have a crumpet now and then.
https://linktr.ee/wjameschan -- everything I've ever done worth talking about, and even that is debatable.

Huh. My mace dude is now an actual cultist of Chayula. That's kinda wild.
"
leto2626 wrote:
Just to make you all realise : saving money makes the economy going down even faster.
But there is no right answer as long we all stick to the ultra-capitalistic world we live in now, that finally shows how thin the whole foundation is. One virus and it's all going to hell.


I think that, in general, the thread here is more about "getting what you still need to get during difficult economic times."

I agree that a mass "Collect Savings" effort can be deleterious to a nations economy in some respects. Squirreling away a lot of cash during tough economic times can reduce the very thing we need to heal that problem.

But, one can't exactly tell someone not to if they really need to. Lots of people need to have some savings before they start spending. It's just a smart personal practice. :)

PS: Individuals and certain industries are very much under threat right now. But, the foundations that they rely on in order to be a viable business are still fundamentally there. Restaurants may well go out of business or have to declare bankruptcy. BUT, even if they aren't there when everyone climbs out of their holes, there will be a very real need for them.

My concern would be for the effect of interest rates on busisness owners looking for loans necessary to occupy those empty spaces and open a new business there. That could be a downside to "Reconstruction Efforts."

For the thread-goers - A FREE GAME!

KeeperRL's Developer, Michael Brzozowski, is giving away the full Alpha 29 release of KeeperRL to anyone who wants a copy during these very trying times.

It's the full game, Alpha 29 version, which is currently on Steam. It's fully playable, with hours of content, and crap-tons of replayability. No sunset period. No tricks. Just the full game of KeeperRL that current players and owners of the game are playing. For FREE:

Announcement:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/329970/eventcomments/3974929700276679392

Full permission already granted and I asked him, first:

Download Link: http://keeperrl.com/keeperRL_alpha29_1.zip

That's it. Install and play the game that others who previously paid for it are already playing.

(It's a fun game. It's a Rogue-Like "Dungeon Keeper" with several gameplay options and different types of "Keeper" to choose to play. It has "z-levels" too! Build your dungeon, dig deeper, uncover danger, attack factions on the overland campaign map, get phat lewtz, research new techs, do magic stuffs, craft equipment for your monsters to use to hack apart pesky dwarves, elves, humans... dragons - It's got lots of fun stuff in it.

The developer will also give a free licensed copy to anyone that emails them proof of donating to any non-profit wildlife organization. That's always been the case. All in all, I'd say the developer seems like a pretty nice guy and am not surprised to see this from him.
Last edited by Morkonan#5844 on Apr 2, 2020, 6:48:24 PM

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