I used to do that. I would open the mail and stuff it all into the prepaid envelope and sent it all back.

My best one to date (I think) is I kept getting these mails that wanted charge me money to insure that myself if my electric meter or electric cable from the pole went bad. Just $5.95 per month and all your troubles will go away. And every mail would have the logo of my electric company printed on the advertisement.

There was some talk in the local paper about it because my electrical company was endorsing this leech of a company. I figured some enterprising executives figured out a way to make theirselves some risk free income. How many times have you ever had to replace your meter or the cable running to it? It smelled like a racket to me.

So, I returned their mail and included a note, " It really pisses me off that my electric company has crawled into bed with you cockroaches." I have not heard from them since

I kept getting shit from those goddamn Scientologists until I filled up their prepaid envelope with cigarette butts and wrote STOP SENDING ME THIS SHIT HAIL SATAN in red marker on it.

Dr. Deborah Birx is looking at Pennsylvania, Colorado and D.C. as the United States' next big hot spots for the coronavirus, and she said Sunday that 15percent per 100,000 D.C. citizens are testing positive for coronavirus in lab test.

https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/white-house-coronavirus-task-force-warns-dc-hotspot-for-covid-19/65-b16198d2-ec60-4a31-929e-a9b3897ee8f5

Those roofers are something else. I lived just south of Joplin in 2008 when a big EF-4 tornado went through and just missed us. We had softball size hail though. Roofers just swarmed the area over the next few days. Hundreds of houses in my subdivision had roofing company signs in their yards. And yes what you said it true.

This one if anybody cares. It's interesting reading it and reliving it. No basement, so we just got in the closet and listened to the destruction.

https://www.weather.gov/sgf/events_2008may10

Should be, judging from the big groups of 20 somethings I saw chillin at the Park together this afternoon. No masks. Steered the dog well away.

Insurance work is guaranteed money

They really need to start handing out tickets.

Oh and a federal stay at home order would be nice too.

Finally broke down and bought some masks today. $70 for a box of 50 was the best I could get the guy to go for.

I just don’t want to be the only asshole without a mask, so now at
Least when we go downstairs
To the store or the supermarket we’ll be doing what they are kind of telling us to do but also not really telling us to do...

It ain’t changing if there’s no enforcement, sad.

Tiger tested positive for COVID-19.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tiger-bronx-zoo-tests-positive-for-coronavirus-today-2020-04-05/

At first I thought you you were talking Woods, probably would’ve had a few cases traced back to him.

I see....they have enough tests to test a tiger though...

That is pretty much the way it is now everywhere. Landscaping, construction, roofing, meat plants, poultry farms and on and on.

I worked at a machine shop/tool and die company for 14 years before they moved to Mexico. The one big issue I had with our union was when we had a RedWing shoe contract. The company was pretty much dependent on this to a do our die situation. Union wouldn't allow none union or mangers to do work. But most of our guys were older and didn't want to work OT. They all sat around talking about how the union was going to save their jobs. Didn't happen. We missed the contract date. Company closed and moved to Mexico. Everyone was out of their jobs. Union couldn't do a damn thing to help anyone. This was in 09 so there wasn't any jobs to be had.

I'd love to hear what lotions you folks are using. My hands are getting pretty rough.

I have two best friends for life. They are both like family to me. One I was with nearly every day from age 10 to 20. We learned to play guitar together and he was in my rock 'n roll band in high school. We read and collect the same multiple series of books and share many other interests. He was best man at my wedding 40 years ago this August.

The other I was with nearly every day from age 20 to 30. He played drums on recordings of my jazz-rock compositions (on which I play guitar, bass and keyboards). We were foosball partners at bars and in tournaments and went to arcades together to play pinball (he owns 10 pins while I have 17). He was bartender at my parent's 25th wedding anniversary. We're also car buddies (he has three hot cars and two motorcycles while I have five muscle cars).

I haven't seen either one during this virus lockdown. The drummer/pinball buddy phoned me today to see if I was okay and to thank me for being his closest friend for almost fifty years. These scary times make you appreciate the people who really matter in your life.

https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwi6mpP2z9LoAhUYxrIKHZReAI0YABAFGgJscg&ei=kIKKXqnPH9i6tQaGjZfICg&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAASEuRoQs0F-Wd2ZAM80G37CSVpcQ&sig=AOD64_3bHv23QO_7eknAL9o56bBIs8zG3A&ctype=46&q=&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwip14b2z9LoAhVYXc0KHYbGBakQzzl6BAgLECE&adurl=

I'd probably vote Morgan on that one....

Just watched 60 Minutes. Per an interviewee, credit cards are deferring 90 days. The auto loan holder says FU!

"That tiger claimed she was staying at home but she was lion."

Heartbreaking. Shocking. Sad. This is the horror of the current situation. I’m not even sure I believe in God (after all,why should we?) but God (The universe, white light, karma, etc.) bless your wife and her patients. It’s the real deal.

Well, when the owners of Capital fuck up and are lazy and selfish, and greedy and drain share holder value due to their incompetence and self interest, it’s ok I guess. Only the workers deserve shame. And punishment. For underperformance. Or underperformance because management decisions suck ass and they have no choice but to fail. I never once, ever, saw a worker get a golden parachute.

when things are good, let alone when they take the company down or get caught doing something illegal.

Maybe because it’s a hit piece that references a 20th century avant-grade writer that was a psycho?

As someone who lives a whopping 7 miles from DC, I do wonder if they mean DC proper or the DC region. Near as I can tell the virus doesn't respect jurisdictional boundaries.

-Rob
-visit http://www.kahr.us to get my daughterboard that helps fix WPC pinball resets or my Pinball 2000 H+V Video Sync Combiner kit

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2020/04/05/coronavirus-louisville-police-investigate-social-distancing-assault/2950227001/

My dermatologist recommended this about 30 years ago for contact dermatitis(sensitivity to soap, oils, dry skin , etc) and I have been using it ever since:
https://www.amazon.com/Eucerin-Original-Healing-Cream-Fragrance/dp/B001FB5IIC

Why would someone concerned about social distancing go into a crowd and start physically assaulting people? Can we please leave law enforcement to the professionals?

Stupid is as stupid does

Thought this was going to happen the other day at the grocery store I work at. Had two women screaming at each other because the one women confronted the lady behind her that she was standing to close to her. And she was right up on the women. I see many stores in my area that are trying to maintain proper SD but lack of foresight is making it worse. They have every other register closed and a rope or line drawn to keep the line going to the side of the store and then down the isle. From the in front of the registers it looks good. They are only allowing 3 people at a register at a time. But the line to get there off the side going the whole way to the back and people are squished right on top of each other. Then throw in all the people actually trying to shop that area. A complete failure.

Too bad there is no legislation there, because every example I read here seems highlight how easy it is for companies disregard their employees. It used to be you could be proud working for certain companies and think they cared for your life, but time and time again, they'll show they don't care about the workers, and it's all just about profit and NOT about sustaining community and families. And that once again underscores why labour needs to organize.
And so it's no surprise to hear all the stories of companies staying open and forcing their staff to work, regardless of Coronavirus risk.

Here in Michigan returning bottles is banned under the stay at home order and people have been buying up alcohol like crazy. Once this is all over I would expect to see some very long lines with carts packed full of beer and White Claw cans at the bottle return area lol.

I’ve only been in the workforce for about 25 years (20 corporate).In my opinion, it’s always been like that. If you expect differently, you will be disappointed.

As far as companies forcing their staff to work, if they don’t like it, they can just stop showing up. Even in this environment, I doubt they would have any difficulty finding replacements.

Quite a few years ago I was reading “the Da Vinci Code” on a flight. The passenger next to me said that her Pastor said that book was full of lies. I told her that I found it in the Fiction section. I will never forget her face.

I'll say this about a local company and union stepping up big time for their workers. Employees were offered to continue coming into work (with various social distancing steps taken and guidelines in place) or take unpaid time off during the stay at home order yet retain their job and benefits. A cousin of mine is taking the company and union up on the offer and staying at home for at least 2 weeks. He said his wife is working from home and that they can swing the bills on 1 income for a couple months so not a bad idea. When he gets sick he usually ends up with bronchitis and doesn't want to take the risk of going into work at this time. I wonder how many companies are offering something like this right now.

Looks like the answer to my wondering can be answered in Bob's charts for today (https://twitter.com/isfBob). DC, Colorado, and PA all have 'just crossed' or 'are about to cross' the line where the jurisdictional case density exceeds the nationalized US case density. Arlington, VA and Fairfax, VA are trending more linked to DC than to VA but not nearly as much as the MD counties adjacent. Maybe nobody has reason to cross the Potomac when so much is closed. Dunno. Thanks again to this thread for pointing out isfBob!

-Rob
-visit http://www.kahr.us to get my daughterboard that helps fix WPC pinball resets or my Pinball 2000 H+V Video Sync Combiner kit

This 31-year-old P.A. was the first patient in NJ. His account is similar to one I posted for a young hospital worker in Albany GA. Stories like this help me with staying home. Why risk it?

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/05/magazine/first-coronavirus-patient-new-jersey.html

Sorry disagree. You might have misread my post. In my case it was because we lost our contract, because of union restrictions that forced our company to close. I was actually a volunteer union shop steward for 5 years. (Had a lot more typed but was too political so deleted it.)
I will share this though. My daughter whom is working for a non union company that had to close is still getting paid her weekly paycheck by them.

Agreed...this can get political quick, fast, and in a hurry!

The following is NOT intended to be anti-union in any way, just a historical account that some of you may find interesting regarding the city of Pittsburgh...

When the steel industry started to collapse and the mills started to close in Pittsburgh during the 1970s, the city was in despair. This was devastating as this was what Pittsburgh was known for at that time, thus, the “Steel City”. Countless thousands went from making very good money to being unemployed with no work to be found. The suicide rate in Pittsburgh at one point was one of the highest if not the highest in the country. There were no jobs to be found and if you did find work, you would only be making a fraction of what was being paid in the mills.

All of this, believe it or not, is what led to the incredible love the people have for their Pittsburgh Steelers. The tremendous success the Steelers had in the 1970s was the only significant positive thing happening. It was exactly what was needed to give the community hope and something to be happy about. They rallied behind them and the rest is history having one of the most successful dynasties in NFL history. Even the idea of the iconic “Terrible Towel” came from the poverty that was abound. Myron Cope started it by telling fans to bring whatever towels they had from home and wave them at the game. It was a “poor man’s” way to root on their team as everyone had access to a kitchen towel. The towel soon became standardized into the “gold” towel you still see to this day.

The fallout from the collapse of the steel industry can still be seen in Pittsburgh and its surrounding communities. However, many of these depressed areas have since been rebuilt thanks to the city’s rebirth as a medical and technology leader. Just a recent example of note, Uber’s test track for autonomous vehicles is on the grounds where J&L Steel used to flourish. Not all cities fared as well as Pittsburgh, many never recovered and are still struggling today.

And back to the damn pandemic...

I don’t know if this has been posted...

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Reasons to hope: 3 weeks after official lockdown in France, we start to see less people arriving every day in ICU:

Capture d’écran 2020-04-06 à 06.15.57 (resized).png

What did you do tonight?

I played competitive pinball for the first time in a month (and got my ass kicked).

So this is slightly on and off topic. But I’ve been cooped up for a long time, and it’s been getting too me. I couldn’t hang out with my friends. League is on hold until we can all get back together. My girlfriend caught Covid (recovering thank goodness). And I’ve been missing pinball. Sure, I’ve been playing. I’ve even tried my hand at streaming (Pandemic Pinball). But I’ve missed playing pinball with friends.

So tonight Knoler and I started up a FaceTime chat. We are friends in real life, and we both own Stern Star Trek. We bought mounts for our iPads.

1FD6FE5B-7389-422E-8590-CBBF2EEF79B0 (resized).jpeg

And then we started competing. The first few games were for score. We shut off all ball savers, and we took turns just like normal play. We did have to adjust our volumes to get it right, and then the trash talk started.

DD8E9AE6-89FB-4953-ADAF-535D7F004CCE (resized).jpeg

That was just a blast. Because we were taking turns and I playing like we would if we were standing at the same game, it felt real.

Then we started objective based for time. This started getting crazy fun. We used stopwatches on our phones for “first to start Klingon multiball”. “First to get a full bank of photon torpedos”. Basically using any objective we could think of that could be timed. “destroy the vengeance” was just crazy fun. We supplemented that one that if the first person failed, if the other person did it, they won no matter the time. But if the second didn’t, the lowest time to burn out after starting it won.

74278199-DF88-4248-A84D-C50A01F1F0F4 (resized).png

In the end, this was amazingly fun. I felt like I played pinball for the first time in ages. We drank beers and wine. I was munching on crackers. Besides the fact that he was about 15 miles away, it totally felt like we were in the same room playing pinball. Whether I was saying “nice shot” or “fumble”, just like I would if we actually were in the same room. If you have a friend that had the same game, I HIGHLY recommend trying this. Because you’re friends, the difference between the two games are meaningless. Although we did set them to the same pitch and settings (competition mode) and no ball savers to make it as even as we could.

Very fun times in all this crap.

This is great to hear, DaveH. Pics make it even better. Fun ideas to keep the games entertaining - not just scores.

This whole pandemic has been handled so poorly by the WHO, is there an oversight committee for the top officials of this organization or the UN?

I keep hearing about "a light at the end of the tunnel."

I just watched that PBS Vietnam doc...leaders of France and the US said that exact phrase many times over the course of that 20-year war. Just stuck with me so a little disconcerting to see it being thrown around lately.

They are the overlords. They answer to no one, except those that fund them.

There is no light.....this is gonna drag on all summer.

R.I.P. Lee Fierro
An actress best known for playing Mrs. Kintner in Jaws, has died of complications from coronavirus, according to The Martha's Vineyard Times. She was 91.
BB12cqgN (resized).jpg

Dean is my favorite! Scary shit...

COVID -19

CO - Corona
VI - Virus
D - Disease
19 - 2019

AKA Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)