Coronavirus

[Bigmac]

I watched HyperNormalisation and The Century of the Self so far apart I never realised they were by the same lad, I must check out more of his stuff so. Cheers, good shout.

On the 9/11 stuff, the Dancing Israelis rabbit hole piqued my interest a while back, but it's been so long I'm not sure what kind of information is out there about it now.

[astfgyl]

As soon as you mentioned BBC documentary trilogy my ears pricked up. On the subject of learning from things, I personally feel that almost anything can be learned from in one way or another. I'd be a bit of a Johnny 5 as in I just like the Input and I'd usually decide what I ultimately think of something at a much later point, after seeing the counter argument to it. For example, whenever I see something shady regarding 9/11, I'd go and look at something like Popular Mechanics' version of events, and then see if there is anything else to counter that as well, instead of just buzzing off the first thing I saw. Or when I wanted to believe that the covid death toll was being wildly exaggerated here, I did my own check on rip.ie to see if I could counter myself, and indeed I did. For me it's never really about being right as such, just finding out more all the time

[mugz]

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

[astfgyl]

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

I watched that earlier, and I can get on board with the likes of the Pentagon stuff, but then he starts about other stuff that I just can't get into at all like glitches in the matrix and the like and inter-dimensional entities and it's those type associations and the whole in for the penny in for the pound type mentality of "truthers" that I find takes from the actual good stuff they have to say. This stuff could actually get its' own thread anyway and leave this one for the covid but I'd certainly join the discussion in its' own rightful place on the board.

Steering this back on topic, anyone gotten out for a pint yet? Going for dinner with my wife tomorrow night myself and as much as I didn't miss most things, I'm looking forward to it, getting out of the house in the night.

[mugz]

different atmosphere out there; another notch clicked past on the wheel of time, but by the same measure some of the activities are the same as ever.

that's probably not a helpful answer.

preferred it when the world was empty, but if you like bustle and buzz and people eating and drinking and socialising, there's a lot of that coming back too. I thought I was beginning to miss that stuff, but it's been coming back for a while, and today it was like nah, didn't miss it that much.

[astfgyl]

I agree there was a lot to be said for the peace and quiet. The drive to work every morning was particularly wonderful, and I really enjoyed the nightly stroll through the empty town. If I could have reconciled it all to my inner disquiet at the time I would have enjoyed it a lot more. I'm actually looking forward to going for dinner all the same and I honestly thought I wasn't missing the nightlife at all until I booked it.

[mugz]

I agree there was a lot to be said for the peace and quiet. The drive to work every morning was particularly wonderful, and I really enjoyed the nightly stroll through the empty town. If I could have reconciled it all to my inner disquiet at the time I would have enjoyed it a lot more. I'm actually looking forward to going for dinner all the same and I honestly thought I wasn't missing the nightlife at all until I booked it.

it's a funny one- that mismatch between inner and outer, between normality and whatever it was we went through. I find the real sense of dislocation is from being surrounded only by people older or younger. Hearing about stuff I don't understand/care about from both sides. Was in a park for 2 hours today, I guess it was heading back to normal, but it's a normal that feels 'wrong' somehow.

[Ducky]

It's got an uncanny feel to it. "The new normal" for sure. As Neal Peart wrote, "you can almost see the circuits blowing".

[mugz]

It's got an uncanny feel to it. "The new normal" for sure. As Neal Peart wrote, "you can almost see the circuits blowing".

It reminded me of an 80s scifi episode where they send 2 scientists into 'the past' in hermetically sealed suits, and while they do nothing but observe a primordial coastal environment for a few moments, when they come back everything is 'off' somehow, but only one of the scientists feels it.

I feel like that guy.

[astfgyl]

Cases rising back up nicely again. Pity the results made available to the public aren't more specific regarding location, as it might have folks more on their guard in certain places.

Anyone think we will end up with April-like figures again in the near future? Although the announcement yesterday that all cases were in those aged under 44 means we should see a lot less deaths following on from the latest rise in cases.

[Emphyrio]

Ya, less deaths likely in that age range in the immediate term but a fortnight from now the deaths, I reckon, will go up pretty sharply due to transmission from current cases.

[astfgyl]

I have a feeling you may be right there.

In the beginning and for quite a while after, I was against the idea of locking down, thinking instead that people could be trusted to take the care of their health in their own hands. Now, however, seeing the general carry on since a bit of easing in the restrictions, I'm not so sure about that at all. The town I'm in here has been busier than ever before in the last week and apart from wearing facemasks, which are debatable in their usefulness, it all seems to have been so quickly forgotten.

I'm thinking now should we have stayed going, New Zealand style, and actually gotten rid of it on our own island and kept strict travel restrictions with basically everywhere. It's not as easy as it seems though, given the NI situation. I've heard tell of US tourists flying into Belfast and travelling into the Republic that way, no questions asked. Now I can't 100% confirm the veracity of that claim but it wouldn't surprise me in the least if it were true.

It will be some shame to see what progress we have made here thrown away, either through weak governmental decisions or general public stupidity or a combination of both. Seeing the things that are working or not working in other countries, and with the Taoiseach saying today they are to continue taking the cautious approach, is there not a case to be made for being more cautious and implementing things like strict quarantining of all arrivals, and actually banning outward holiday travel? Or if someone does insist on travelling for a holiday, add in the cost for their quarantine hotel stay on return. That would make a lot of passengers think twice. Maybe I'm going too far in thinking that but I dunno, I'd hate to go backwards now and fall into the narrative of an inevitable second wave and whatever that would entail.

[Emphyrio]

The reproduction rate had been so low that it was actually difficult to put an accurate rate on it. It's back up around 1 now so things have not gone according to plan. Cases might still be in the 20s this week but they'll defo be higher next week.

[astfgyl]

I agree. I predict a strong upward trend in cases again very soon as well. Considering we were so close to having it gone from here it's pretty galling.

[Emphyrio]

Should have done everything possible to close borders, in so far as possible. Obviously with Northern Ireland it wasn't going to be easy but surely something could have been done. Think of all the spastics coming back from Santa Ponsa in the next while too. And Ryanair advertising all over the shop. We had done so well but ya, in for a shock again soon I reckon. Well, people with a bit of common sense won't be shocked but there's too many thickos out there.