Coronavirus Discussion

[DangerousR6]

The bandanna isn't useless. It placates the nitwits who require them in their district or place of business. And at least it's better than people wearing masks with exhale valves.

:laughing11:
well to be fair, the really good masks have charcoal filters to scrub the exhaled breath...

 

[Axkoa]

Really proud of us Aussies are doing. My state of 5 million people are down to 16 active cases, 7 people in hospital. Our government put out the roadmap to opening things up the other day. Really hoping people don't go crazy with the restrictions being lessened. The country is down to less than 600 active cases out of just under 7,000 cases. Fingers crossed we can keep it up.

I've been getting a decent chunk of stimulus money each fortnight from the Government as well, so I'm having a think about what I should buy next. Line 6 Helix LT, Behringer Neutron, a new guitar?

 

[mayfly]

You guys are doing well!  Here in Canada, the situation is very different between provinces.  Saskatchewan is opening up next week, along with northern Alberta.  Ontario and Quebec are not so lucky.  However, Ontario's healthcare system is coping well enough to allow hospitals to open up operating rooms to the non-life threatening procedures that were canceled when the lockdown arrived.

 

[T89Rex]

We (Australia) have done well but I suspect we've also been lucky. The fires over summer obliterated international tourism numbers so the initial spread was far slower than it would've been under usual circumstances. I think we were too slow to act at first, but that factor along with easily controlled borders really saved us.

After that slow start I think we've mostly done the right things at the right times. We could be looking after people a bit better -- there are huge holes on the welfare system that are really letting a lot of people down -- but for the most part things are looking good. In New South Wales the health system has had time to massively increase capacity in case there's a second wave and I'm sure that's true in other states too. We also have some great research teams working on vaccines and therapeutics. Hopefully one outcome of all of this is that we begin to value the work of scientists a little more and fund it properly from now on.

 

[mayfly]

We also have some great research teams working on vaccines and therapeutics. Hopefully one outcome of all of this is that we begin to value the work of scientists a little more and fund it properly from now on.

You can say that again.  In Saskatoon there is a research lab that has managed to develop a successful vaccine (!).  Unfortunately they still need to perform many more trials before it's ready - the largest mammal it's been tested on so far has been ferrets.  Yup - ferrets. :laughing7:

 

[Cagey]

How after all these years have Chihuahuas managed to escape destructive testing?

 

[PhilHill]

How after all these years have Chihuahuas managed to escape destructive testing?

Their physiology is vastly different than any other creature on Earth. The only reasonable explanation for their existence that science can come up with is that they are the descendants of some kind of vermin that infested the spaceships of the extraterrestrials that built the Aztec Pyramids.

 

[swarfrat]

Yup - Chihuahua's

 

[BroccoliRob]

bruh, this stuff is also worn so as to not contaminate the specimen they are studying


if some customer is gonna blast his sour nose ranch (sneeze) in my general direction and i have a choice between them having nothing on their face or a dumb bandana with spongebob or rutherford b hayes on it, i'm gonna go with the bandana (hopefully its the one with by boi rutherford on it)

did u know? rutherford b hayes was an avid apiarist, leading to his well-known nickname, rutherford beehives

 

[jay4321]

Hopefully one outcome of all of this is that we begin to value the work of scientists a little more and fund it properly from now on.

I wish I could be as optimistic. I can sort of remember a time when scientists and other experts in their fields were generally respected and held in reasonably high regard. We’re not there now, or at least a lot of people aren’t.

I mean why do all that work doing research and taking sensible precautions, when you can just believe problems away? Or deny them, or marginalize them, or blame someone else for them. But yeah all that mathy-sceincey stuff is too much work, and really who can trust those nerds after missing that the Earth is flat

 

[T89Rex]

bruh, this stuff is also worn so as to not contaminate the specimen they are studying

I can promise you it's designed to protect the user, not the experiment. There are plenty of ways to prevent contamination of the sample that don't involve such costly PPE. All biology requires aseptic technique. This gear is only used when the organism being studied is dangerous.

 

[BroccoliRob]

bruh, this stuff is also worn so as to not contaminate the specimen they are studying

I can promise you it's designed to protect the user, not the experiment. There are plenty of ways to prevent contamination of the sample that don't involve such costly PPE. All biology requires aseptic technique. This gear is only used when the organism being studied is dangerous.

You're probably right, it could never be two things

Like skin. You never think bout it but your skin is super cool and multi-purpose. My sister told me that they repaired the hole in Susan’s leg (a childhood friend who took a wicked ramp with her Schwinn and got extreme road rash when the handlebar broke apart upon impact and she slid 15 feet across the street) with meat taken from her bottom, which I believed for thirty years until she told me she’d made it up and they actually just grafted skin from a cadaver

she also told me that when I turned ten, I’d be able to teleport short distances but it was a closely guarded secret from under-tens for their own good because they needed to learn how to walk and run perfectly first

 

[PhilHill]

I think some things are beginning to unravel. During the first 6 weeks of this thing I really didn't have a lot of trouble buying things online or getting them shipped. But, the last two weeks is a different story. On the 5th of May I ordered a piece of mahogany that's 2 foot long and 1/8 thick from a place that apparently is in Mi. On the 7th it arrived at the USPS facility in Carol Stream, Il. That's about 35 mins from my house. It, according to USPS's tracking system, is still sitting in that facility. 12 days later.
I decided to make use of the USPS Lost Mail Report system. A most frustrating and amusing experience, whoever designed that system should be placed under guard in a secure facility before they hurt themselves. It finally accepted my report on the third try. I don't hold the idea that it will be much help in the long run. The wood was $8.00 so it wouldn't be a great loss in it self, but it was another $6.00 to ship it. $14.00 I don't swallow so easy.
Meanwhile, I ordered a vice for my drill press that weighs 20lbs and came from NJ, it cost $3.45 to ship and got here in 3 days. But then again, on the 17th I ordered a threading tap from a place in Florida that weighs a couple of ounces. It cost a little under $15.00 to buy, but cost $16.98 to ship. It's supposed to get here tomorrow. We shall see. I don't even want to think about the fact that I'm running low on dust masks. I went through 6 listings that said currently unavailable and found one place that had them, if I could prove that I was a medical professional or an industrial buyer for a company on the vital business list.

Can I have a drink now?

 

[rgand]

I went into a clinic the other day to pick up something and they gave me a mask to wear when I went in because i didn't have one. Try doing that a cuple times and you'll have several of those blue surgical masks to use to manufacture those 'therapudic sonic devices' for people going nuts at home. :icon_thumright:

 

[PhilHill]

Good idea.  :icon_thumright:

 

[mayfly]

Can I have a drink now?

You have my permission.  Please do. 

I ordered some pots from Small Bear electronics in NY, and they were lost in the UPS black hole for a couple of weeks.  According to the website they have just arrived in town - maybe I'll get them tomorrow.
But - I also ordered an expensive instrument for my oldest kid (Yamaha Trombone).  Shipping from Toronto using Canada post, they say it will be here tomorrow; I ordered it on friday.  :icon_thumright:

 

[PhilHill]

Can I have a drink now?

You have my permission.  Please do. 

I ordered some pots from Small Bear electronics in NY, and they were lost in the UPS black hole for a couple of weeks.  According to the website they have just arrived in town - maybe I'll get them tomorrow.
But - I also ordered an expensive instrument for my oldest kid (Yamaha Trombone).  Shipping from Toronto using Canada post, they say it will be here tomorrow; I ordered it on friday.  :icon_thumright:

Thank you. I just received an e-mail from USPS thanking me for sharing my concerns with them. They have turn over my inquiry to a "Research and Response Team" and told me I should get first response in a day or two. Exciting, I figure the wood will probably reach a petrified state by the time they figure out what went wrong... :dontknow:

 

[PhilHill]

Just as a follow up, I report that I have beheld a miracle of magic worthy of Angel or Copperfield. My mahogany, along with my $14 in cost and shipping, has vanished into thin air. Just disappeared. The seller says UPSMI received it. UPSMI says that the USPS facility near my house received it. The USPS Inspector says that USPS never got it.
All parties involved swear on their mothers eyes that they are telling the truth. The only conclusion  I can come to is that in between the UPS man's hand and the Postal employee's hand, the package simply vanished. And no one was aware of it happening. Now I can do another round of discussions with all parties involved or I can discuss the matter with the steel leg on my desk. I suspect that I will get equally satisfying results either way. I believe I will chalk it up to the cost of living and save myself the grief of further failure.  :binkybaby: I want my mommy...

 

[mayfly]

ooooo - sorry to hear that.  Even sorrier to say that I finally got my package from small bear today!  Two weeks late...

 

[PhilHill]

ooooo - sorry to hear that.  Even sorrier to say that I finally got my package from small bear today!  Two weeks late...

Thanks. I have decided to look at it philosophically. Mainly as there isn't anything else I can do. Glad to hear you got your delivery though. Maybe small bears just take longer to do things, being young and all.... :headbang: