This topic is closed.
Came across a suggestion today about how to mitigate glasses fogging up from homemade masks:
Swimmer nose clips. Wear them on the outside of the mask.
Looks pretty silly, and a little uncomfortable, but damn if it didn’t do the trick.
Quoted from razorsedge:There are alot of truly Great things!! ... America is very good at alot of stuff, Absolutely! ... although maybe not always that stuff goes to the greatest good. Same can be said for other countries though too I suppose.
Pinball is one of many great things that America has given us here!! .... and cars, our Australian made cars are American inspired. Just that instead of making them bigger than Texas with heaps of cubes in the mill, we made them a bit lighter, only as big as they needed to be, and still chucked the same mill with the same heaps of cubes and horsepower in there... what a way to have fun!
Party kind of ended in the 70's when the party pooper govt. decided that in making these pocket rockets we were producing Death Machines!
There are plenty of things that seem quite concerning. Other side of the planet in Oz here and cv19 has stepped to the side on the airwaves, now we have wall to wall reporting on nation wide US riots, during physical distancing....
View for me right now is the same as I was brought up with though, or been exposed to... although more and more people seem to be opening their eyes and seeing more as time goes forward.
Common quote here would be "Only in America! "
I can't give a full uncencored answer for your question, and also have my post published. Controvercial stuff is "taboo". There are things we are not allowed to say in this era of "free speech". On top of that, pinside has its guidelines as well.
Here we are multicultural at the core. Yep we certainly have problems of our own as well. However I seem to keep coming back to feeling quite lucky to be where I am, and there is No place at all in the world that I would rather be. Really.
I rekon believing one's self is "the best", is a bit like believing one "knows everything" .... failed before you've begun...
There are things it pays to learn and remember. Unfortunately information is not always free, or true, either.
It isn't easy.
The U.S. is still a great country but nothing like what it used to be thanks to a few things that I definitely cannot go into on here. Basically though there is a group of people that want to change everything that made America great.
Theres still a lot to love but we definitely have some big problems that wont ever get solved peacefully. I'm just glad that I got to enjoy some of the good years and wont have to be here if certain people ever get their way down the road because this country will fail big time if that happens.
I guess that every country has their problems. I am friends with people from other countries on here and they tell me that their country os being ruined also by the same reasons the U.S. is.
People seem to have lost interest in this thread. Is the Corona not as big of a deal as once projected or what? It seems that nobody even talks about it anymore around where I live.
That was touching. Thank you. I needed that.
Quoted from Asael:I would like to answer your question and I hope it is ok that my answer has nothing to do with corona and is a bit longer. I grew up with American soldiers stationed around my village and they are still here. Some say we’re still occupied, I think they are here to help, so that we all could live in freedom. And I hope the american soldiers keep staying here.
As a kid I loved their ice cream on Independence Day and as a kid they let me sit in a F16 Falcon (I think that’s why I later went to the german army). They were always friendly, and I liked them. And perhaps as a kid I thought they were the best and number one in the world. I learned to speak the english language way before I got into school. In school I failed the English course because I was talking like on the street and not the british english they wanted to teach us. I watched american TV Shows, always loved the music and the culture. As a teenager I loved the book “Centennial” from James R. Michener that covered a big part of American history. I love western movies with John Wayne like “The Searcher” and my all-time favorite TV show is “Northern Exposure”. I cannot live without american music from, soul and blues, over folk to rock and metal.
Over the years I have met many American families from different corners of the country. They taught me how to love and watch American Football. And I played baseball with them and had fun. They let me sneak into the base to buy things that you could not get here in Germany. Then after 9.11. something started to be bit different many Americans started to close everything and keep for themself. I could understand this. There were times when soldiers from the Iraq war came in my pub and were broken down, after a few drinks they started crying over the things they saw there or about lost friends. Sometimes they wanted to get in fights, and I had to show and tell them that they are now under friends again. I could understand all this, also it sometimes was precarious.
And still through the years I often found good friends and with the internet I could keep in contact with them:
The Texan girl, who is a good musician and has a farm where they filmed a lot of westerns.
The guy from LA that became a member and big part of a traditional runners club in my village and had a wife here but left her and went back to the USA.
The black guy from Hawaii with the german name “Fritz”, one night I taught him very drunk a few swear words that are used in my village, only to hear him say these words to the referee the next day in a soccer match which resulted in a red card.
The Captain from a Irish New Yorker family that had run a pub in NY and always came to my similar pub cause of homesickness as long as he stayed in the US army here.
The big black guy from Belize, who is in the freemasonry and has a teacher as his wife who loved world music and my beer. And told me that he wants to come back in a few years to live the rest of his life in my village, far away from all the racism he is confronted in the USA.
I still have contact with them after they left and there were many more!
And under my good friends are still Americans living in my little village:
An American/Mexican ex-soldier who stayed here after his army time as a sport teacher and soccer coach.
Or the beautiful wife of the mayor of my village, who could not vote for her husband in his election, cause she still only has her american citizenship and wants to keep it that way.
And one of my best friends an ex-soldier from Puerto Rico who also stayed here and has a good salsa band and many kids and grandchildren who are living here now like german natives.
One of my neighbors is an old friendly lady from Jacksonville who hates Trump and she wants to live here till she dies also she misses surfing.
All these people are different, different colors, religion and view on politics, but they are all coming from the USA. They are genuinely nice, and I like talking with them as often as possible, almost daily!
2 Years ago, I went to watch my first NFL game in London. I am a big Seahawks fan, always was, no bandwagon fan! I came into the Wembley stadium and searched for my seat. Direct next to me sitting was an old guy from seattle, I would say around 80 years old. Before I could sit, he looked at me in my Seahawks shirt from up to down. Then he said that this is a big relieve for him, he thought he had to travel so far, and he was afraid he had to sit next to a Raiders fan. I told him that I am a real Seahawks fan, but that I am from Germany. He said: “Bloody Nazi doesn’t matter, as long you are no Raider!” Normally to call someone a nazi would be a big insult but I had to laugh about this. After the game he said to me: “Son you did great, cheering up the team!” And that I am a real loud “12” and that I should come to watch a game in Century field one day. That was for me like I have been knighted! Later that night I got drunk with a nice couple of Raiders fans from oakland in the London Crobar. I still have a video from her saying "Go hawks!", took me a lot of drinks to get her this far.
So why I am telling you all this? Perhaps it is not the answer that you wanted but It does not matter for me if America is the number one and the best or not. It does not matter if you start a rocket into space. When I write “Black lives matter” on facebook it is not against America, it is the opposite. As long I have so many friends from your country, and as long I am invited as a friend. I am on the side of the American people as a friend too. You have problems in your country, we have problems here, sometimes the same, sometimes different. But as people I think we almost have the same background and the same culture and, in many things, the same way of thinking. We value the same things: Freedom, democracy and human rights. We should keep working and living together in this world. Does it matter where we are born? And I think that covid shows us this more than anything else. May the force be with you!
Much more than Corona, I am really struggling with the division in the US. And that was BEFORE the last few days.
I really thought a virus would be one thing that could not be politicized... and that it might help us all get on the same page. And then that it might help see who we've got in charge.
But the same side of the population is refusing science, data, facts and logic. I know that's exactly what I should be expecting by now but it's hard to come to terms with it. It hurts all of us.
While I have met many good people here this has worked only as long as politics stayed out of the equation. And now that this government has made everything political it has made certain interactions unbearable and others impossible. Some people say it's just two sides of the same coin. I don't think that is true any more, unless you consider "sane" and "insane" being 2 opposing sides.
I do feel grief that this is where we are. It just seems like such a waste of all that's good here.
Quoted from Who-Dey:I guess that every country has their problems. I am friends with people from other countries on here and they tell me that their country os being ruined also by the same reasons the U.S. is.
Yes, different peoples, different countries... suffering from infestation of the same society killing parasitic systems. Here as well, no different.
Access to varying information, the way the people swallow, and the outcomes, do of course vary. Some are kept in the dark more than others. But, we are all in it together, victim, observer, player or cheat.
I believe in karma. I do not subscribe to "political correctness". I call a spade a spade, and I point at elephants.
So many have no way to know why Corona is nowhere near the dirtiest C word in this world .... the Corona response has made more than a few people start thinking about that though, another positive to come from it all, perhaps.
Masses of people will inevitably wake up and smell the coffee at some point, question is will that happen soon enough to save whatever is left.
Quoted from Asael:I would like to answer your question and I hope it is ok that my answer has nothing to do with corona and is a bit longer. I grew up with American soldiers stationed around my village and they are still here. Some say we’re still occupied, I think they are here to help, so that we all could live in freedom. And I hope the american soldiers keep staying here.
As a kid I loved their ice cream on Independence Day and as a kid they let me sit in a F16 Falcon (I think that’s why I later went to the german army). They were always friendly, and I liked them. And perhaps as a kid I thought they were the best and number one in the world. I learned to speak the english language way before I got into school. In school I failed the English course because I was talking like on the street and not the british english they wanted to teach us. I watched american TV Shows, always loved the music and the culture. As a teenager I loved the book “Centennial” from James R. Michener that covered a big part of American history. I love western movies with John Wayne like “The Searcher” and my all-time favorite TV show is “Northern Exposure”. I cannot live without american music from, soul and blues, over folk to rock and metal.
Over the years I have met many American families from different corners of the country. They taught me how to love and watch American Football. And I played baseball with them and had fun. They let me sneak into the base to buy things that you could not get here in Germany. Then after 9.11. something started to be bit different many Americans started to close everything and keep for themself. I could understand this. There were times when soldiers from the Iraq war came in my pub and were broken down, after a few drinks they started crying over the things they saw there or about lost friends. Sometimes they wanted to get in fights, and I had to show and tell them that they are now under friends again. I could understand all this, also it sometimes was precarious.
And still through the years I often found good friends and with the internet I could keep in contact with them:
The Texan girl, who is a good musician and has a farm where they filmed a lot of westerns.
The guy from LA that became a member and big part of a traditional runners club in my village and had a wife here but left her and went back to the USA.
The black guy from Hawaii with the german name “Fritz”, one night I taught him very drunk a few swear words that are used in my village, only to hear him say these words to the referee the next day in a soccer match which resulted in a red card.
The Captain from a Irish New Yorker family that had run a pub in NY and always came to my similar pub cause of homesickness as long as he stayed in the US army here.
The big black guy from Belize, who is in the freemasonry and has a teacher as his wife who loved world music and my beer. And told me that he wants to come back in a few years to live the rest of his life in my village, far away from all the racism he is confronted in the USA.
I still have contact with them after they left and there were many more!
And under my good friends are still Americans living in my little village:
An American/Mexican ex-soldier who stayed here after his army time as a sport teacher and soccer coach.
Or the beautiful wife of the mayor of my village, who could not vote for her husband in his election, cause she still only has her american citizenship and wants to keep it that way.
And one of my best friends an ex-soldier from Puerto Rico who also stayed here and has a good salsa band and many kids and grandchildren who are living here now like german natives.
One of my neighbors is an old friendly lady from Jacksonville who hates Trump and she wants to live here till she dies also she misses surfing.
All these people are different, different colors, religion and view on politics, but they are all coming from the USA. They are genuinely nice, and I like talking with them as often as possible, almost daily!
2 Years ago, I went to watch my first NFL game in London. I am a big Seahawks fan, always was, no bandwagon fan! I came into the Wembley stadium and searched for my seat. Direct next to me sitting was an old guy from seattle, I would say around 80 years old. Before I could sit, he looked at me in my Seahawks shirt from up to down. Then he said that this is a big relieve for him, he thought he had to travel so far, and he was afraid he had to sit next to a Raiders fan. I told him that I am a real Seahawks fan, but that I am from Germany. He said: “Bloody Nazi doesn’t matter, as long you are no Raider!” Normally to call someone a nazi would be a big insult but I had to laugh about this. After the game he said to me: “Son you did great, cheering up the team!” And that I am a real loud “12” and that I should come to watch a game in Century field one day. That was for me like I have been knighted! Later that night I got drunk with a nice couple of Raiders fans from oakland in the London Crobar. I still have a video from her saying "Go hawks!", took me a lot of drinks to get her this far.
So why I am telling you all this? Perhaps it is not the answer that you wanted but It does not matter for me if America is the number one and the best or not. It does not matter if you start a rocket into space. When I write “Black lives matter” on facebook it is not against America, it is the opposite. As long I have so many friends from your country, and as long I am invited as a friend. I am on the side of the American people as a friend too. You have problems in your country, we have problems here, sometimes the same, sometimes different. But as people I think we almost have the same background and the same culture and, in many things, the same way of thinking. We value the same things: Freedom, democracy and human rights. We should keep working and living together in this world. Does it matter where we are born? And I think that covid shows us this more than anything else. May the force be with you!
I think this is a great post. When asked the question, I started thinking how the world looks towards the USA as a country as a whole, mostly how it's run and what is communicated right away. How most of the world outside the USA doesn't take the USA seriously at all anymore since the last few years, except for the fact that it's still wealthy and powerful. I do unfortunately think that is one valid answer to the question in that aspect.
Your answer is from a different point of view and is way better though.
Quoted from razorsedge:So many have no way to know why Corona is nowhere near the dirtiest C word in this world
Are you talking about "karma", 'cause that starts with a "k" 
Quoted from solarvalue:Are you talking about "karma", 'cause that starts with a "k"
..... eerrrrr, yeah nah this carma is the kind you have when driving your car!? 
Yeah okay I meant the K one Lol ... thanks, I really don't mind a hand with my often dodgy spelling! 
Quoted from Who-Dey:The U.S. is still a great country but nothing like what it used to be thanks to a few things that I definitely cannot go into on here. Basically though there is a group of people that want to change everything that made America great.
Theres still a lot to love but we definitely have some big problems that wont ever get solved peacefully. I'm just glad that I got to enjoy some of the good years and wont have to be here if certain people ever get their way down the road because this country will fail big time if that happens.
I guess that every country has their problems. I am friends with people from other countries on here and they tell me that their country os being ruined also by the same reasons the U.S. is.
People seem to have lost interest in this thread. Is the Corona not as big of a deal as once projected or what? It seems that nobody even talks about it anymore around where I live.
Slowed somewhat, but seems this covid1984 has taken a back seat to the other event that is spreading rabidly through many cities USA wise. Can't mention it by name though....
Quoted from Oaken:Came across a suggestion today about how to mitigate glasses fogging up from homemade masks:
Swimmer nose clips. Wear them on the outside of the mask.
Looks pretty silly, and a little uncomfortable, but damn if it didn’t do the trick.
No b.s. clean your glasses with shaving cream. It is naturally anti fogging. Next time you shower rub a little on a cloth and rub it over a part of a mirror that normally fogs up to test effects. You can also write sweet notes to your spouse or evil threats to your enemies using this method that only show up after a hot shower.
Quoted from SantaEatsCheese:No b.s. clean your glasses with shaving cream. It is naturally anti fogging. Next time you shower rub a little on a cloth and rub it over a part of a mirror that normally fogs up to test effects. You can also write sweet notes to your spouse or evil threats to your enemies using this method that only show up after a hot shower.
Thanks! Will try that one too.
In regards to the notes...talk about 2 sides of the same coin! 
Quoted from chad:Slowed somewhat, but seems this covid1984 has taken a back seat to the other event that is spreading rabidly through many cities USA wise. Can't mention it by name though....
Happening here as well today... "over 1000 hit the streets in Sydney" . Not totally sure why it has become global now? ; although, we have had incidents of a relatable nature here in Oz, from time to time....
... and Covid taking second place on the airwaves here too.
There was an uneasy story detailing an incident where one of our aussie news teams was assaulted (including the corroborating footage) with "batton, shield and rubber bullet/s". 
There must be multiple coins, just that some are obscure to others while others are obscure to some.... 
Quoted from Asael:I would like to answer your question and I hope it is ok that my answer has nothing to do with corona and is a bit longer. I grew up with American soldiers stationed around my village and they are still here. Some say we’re still occupied, I think they are here to help, so that we all could live in freedom. And I hope the american soldiers keep staying here.
As a kid I loved their ice cream on Independence Day and as a kid they let me sit in a F16 Falcon (I think that’s why I later went to the german army). They were always friendly, and I liked them. And perhaps as a kid I thought they were the best and number one in the world. I learned to speak the english language way before I got into school. In school I failed the English course because I was talking like on the street and not the british english they wanted to teach us. I watched american TV Shows, always loved the music and the culture. As a teenager I loved the book “Centennial” from James R. Michener that covered a big part of American history. I love western movies with John Wayne like “The Searcher” and my all-time favorite TV show is “Northern Exposure”. I cannot live without american music from, soul and blues, over folk to rock and metal.
Over the years I have met many American families from different corners of the country. They taught me how to love and watch American Football. And I played baseball with them and had fun. They let me sneak into the base to buy things that you could not get here in Germany. Then after 9.11. something started to be bit different many Americans started to close everything and keep for themself. I could understand this. There were times when soldiers from the Iraq war came in my pub and were broken down, after a few drinks they started crying over the things they saw there or about lost friends. Sometimes they wanted to get in fights, and I had to show and tell them that they are now under friends again. I could understand all this, also it sometimes was precarious.
And still through the years I often found good friends and with the internet I could keep in contact with them:
The Texan girl, who is a good musician and has a farm where they filmed a lot of westerns.
The guy from LA that became a member and big part of a traditional runners club in my village and had a wife here but left her and went back to the USA.
The black guy from Hawaii with the german name “Fritz”, one night I taught him very drunk a few swear words that are used in my village, only to hear him say these words to the referee the next day in a soccer match which resulted in a red card.
The Captain from a Irish New Yorker family that had run a pub in NY and always came to my similar pub cause of homesickness as long as he stayed in the US army here.
The big black guy from Belize, who is in the freemasonry and has a teacher as his wife who loved world music and my beer. And told me that he wants to come back in a few years to live the rest of his life in my village, far away from all the racism he is confronted in the USA.
I still have contact with them after they left and there were many more!
And under my good friends are still Americans living in my little village:
An American/Mexican ex-soldier who stayed here after his army time as a sport teacher and soccer coach.
Or the beautiful wife of the mayor of my village, who could not vote for her husband in his election, cause she still only has her american citizenship and wants to keep it that way.
And one of my best friends an ex-soldier from Puerto Rico who also stayed here and has a good salsa band and many kids and grandchildren who are living here now like german natives.
One of my neighbors is an old friendly lady from Jacksonville who hates Trump and she wants to live here till she dies also she misses surfing.
All these people are different, different colors, religion and view on politics, but they are all coming from the USA. They are genuinely nice, and I like talking with them as often as possible, almost daily!
2 Years ago, I went to watch my first NFL game in London. I am a big Seahawks fan, always was, no bandwagon fan! I came into the Wembley stadium and searched for my seat. Direct next to me sitting was an old guy from seattle, I would say around 80 years old. Before I could sit, he looked at me in my Seahawks shirt from up to down. Then he said that this is a big relieve for him, he thought he had to travel so far, and he was afraid he had to sit next to a Raiders fan. I told him that I am a real Seahawks fan, but that I am from Germany. He said: “Bloody Nazi doesn’t matter, as long you are no Raider!” Normally to call someone a nazi would be a big insult but I had to laugh about this. After the game he said to me: “Son you did great, cheering up the team!” And that I am a real loud “12” and that I should come to watch a game in Century field one day. That was for me like I have been knighted! Later that night I got drunk with a nice couple of Raiders fans from oakland in the London Crobar. I still have a video from her saying "Go hawks!", took me a lot of drinks to get her this far.
So why I am telling you all this? Perhaps it is not the answer that you wanted but It does not matter for me if America is the number one and the best or not. It does not matter if you start a rocket into space. When I write “Black lives matter” on facebook it is not against America, it is the opposite. As long I have so many friends from your country, and as long I am invited as a friend. I am on the side of the American people as a friend too. You have problems in your country, we have problems here, sometimes the same, sometimes different. But as people I think we almost have the same background and the same culture and, in many things, the same way of thinking. We value the same things: Freedom, democracy and human rights. We should keep working and living together in this world. Does it matter where we are born? And I think that covid shows us this more than anything else. May the force be with you!
Holy shit this is the best post in the history of Pinside
Quoted from pinballOsp:While I have met many good people here this has worked only as long as politics stayed out of the equation
I remember back when I became a young adult. My father told me "Son, there are three things we do not talk about with others. Politics, Money and Religion".
I don't know what happened to that philosophy, but I now know why it was believed by so many at the time. I have really close friends that I do not exactly agree with on those three issues. But we are still close friends for many reasons, one being, that we do not talk about those things. I think Americans should go back to finding what we all have in common and concentrate on that. And one of those things on here is Pinball! 
Quoted from WJxxxx:With the increased talk here about whether masks are effective, I thought I'd share these 2 images.[quoted image][quoted image]
I have a hunch that anybody who isn't convinced by now - or just doesn't care - isn't going to have their mind swayed by chart/graph/graphic.
People made up their minds about whether or not they want to accept the reality of things months ago.
Quoted from WJxxxx:With the increased talk here about whether masks are effective, I thought I'd share these 2 images.[quoted image][quoted image]
Notice Malasia dipped out of the circle "with masks", and Australia "without masks" is now down nearer the others. Even our initial curve there is way better than that of South Korea. This is data from mid March as well by the looks? . It is hard since the world was all in slightly different places at a given time with various changing trends, restrictions, situations and policies, but the way this graph is displayed helps that a little. Of course if the virus is prevalent in a community it makes sense to wear a mask in case you are a silent carrier.
Everyone in the world can not wear a mask though, there simply aren't enough of them to go around (unless you're making your own?), front line gets priority imho. There are many other angles to reduce transmission. There is no doubt wearing a mask mitigates transmission risk, in appropriate circumstances it is responsible to do that.
Quoted from CrazyLevi:I have a hunch that anybody who isn't convinced by now - or just doesn't care - isn't going to have their mind swayed by chart/graph/graphic.
People made up their minds about whether or not they want to accept the reality of things months ago.
The confusion on this is completely understandable, as much as the guidelines have bounced around, The WHO is still saying if you’re healthy you only need to wear a mask if caring for someone with Covid. I wear one when going into public places, but the “experts” are still all over the place with this one.
26F3FBCE-7319-4166-AFE6-6C0FBD08759F (resized).pngQuoted from RTR:There are some countries where we are currently fairing better in per capita deaths, but many of those countries were hit earlier as well. Not really an apples to apples comparison between US and European countries as we are on differing timelines. The chart below could make you think we are doing swell until you read the title and look at a list of all the countries, not just the top 10 most affected. This chart really says we aren't doing that great. Here is the rest of the information: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality
[quoted image]
I agree that we could be doing better in the US. But all I've heard for weeks/months is what a terrible job the US is doing in response to covid, and yet on that chart 8 other modern, western nations are doing worse, and in some cases much worse, when it comes to mortality. And I would say case-fatality ratio (mortality) is a more important number than total number of cases. So why are we not talking about what a terrible job Britain is doing, or France, or Belgium in managing and treating their covid cases?
And I'm not sure about your statement that all those countries were hit earlier, or that we're on different timelines to them. Supposedly the first cases in the US were around the same time as everywhere else. And each week I'm hearing about earlier and earlier first-known cases. So who really knows. But sure, we can check back in two weeks and see where we're at. But I wouldn't be surprised if the numbers were similar, but then again I wouldn't be surprised if they are different.
And again, I'm not saying the US is doing a great job. But the numbers do point to other western countries actually doing worse. So that's something to ponder. I'd love to hear why some countries like Belgium seem to have such a high fatality rate. It's curious.
Quoted from Asael:So why I am telling you all this?
Enjoyed your post! Your post brought back a memory for me: When I was in High school my parents became involved in the Scandinavian Student Exchange. It was an exchange program that brought students from Scandinavia to the US. When I was in 11th grade I had a friend from Finland and when I was in 12th grade I had a friend from Denmark. We had some of the best times together. One of the things that i thought was awesome was their paradigm of the local deep southern culture (Savannah Georgia).Their portrayal of All the crazy sayings and cliches kept me in stitches (hilarious) Even though we were so different in how we were raised we had so much in common. The student exchange was very popular at the time and we had quite a few guys from Europe. They were all on our senior soccer team. We had a guy from Germany that was one of our forwards the other was my friend from Denmark. The goalie was awesome and he was an American. Our soccer team went undefeated. Not only that, but no team ever scored more than two goals on us. So after the winning the championship, the team was invited to play in a Men's League (adult players). We played a few of the local college teams and the local soccer club. Our team had no coach. We won every game to finally play the last game with the local soccer club. There were so many red cards on their side that they started picking fights. We beat them so badly their coach left the game. I am still in touch with my friend in Denmark.
Quoted from whthrs166:"Son, there are three things we do not talk about with others. Politics, Money and Religion"
The only problem with that rule is it cedes the public square to the agenda of the professional opinion makers: politicians, news media corporations and Hollywood.
They’re about the last people we should all emulate.
To quote the great William F Buckley:
“I would rather be governed by the first 2,000 people in the telephone directory, than by the Harvard University faculty.”
Left the house for the second time since March 13th.~
Mom sliced her finger doing dishes. She’s in the ER now. She’s gonna be fine. I’m in the car in the parking lot.
Scared she’s gonna bring home the virus. She’ll be able to get an antibody test. Her and I went to Boston February 29th, and were at the hospital there and were very sick the first week of March.
Maybe I don’t have to live in fear of contracting it anymore.
EDIT: they do not do the antibody test.
Quoted from CrazyLevi:I have a hunch that anybody who isn't convinced by now - or just doesn't care - isn't going to have their mind swayed by chart/graph/graphic.
People made up their minds about whether or not they want to accept the reality of things months ago.
As strange as it may sound to you, I was convinced what was needed was distance, hand washing and fresh air inside buildings (open windows), but I'm more and more thinking masks may help, or at least help more than we in the Netherlands tend to think and are told.
I wrote this text below before, but decided not to post, for I'd maybe get virtually hanged here. Here it is a day later:
I know you guys think we should all wear masks whenever we're outside, but it's really not that easy when you hear and read all the time that (non-professional!) masks don't help much, or can even counter-productive. Wearing masks is widely considered not useful in the Netherlands and only maybe one in 30 persons wear one. I THINK maybe the idea is that distance and washing hands helps better than masks and that the government thinks 'we can get the people to do a few things, but we can't get them to do everything', so they chose their battles? I think that might work, for when I see people in other countries on tv I really see a lot of masks, but way less distance between people than here, even when talking or even shouting to each other. Not sure if that's correct, (it's only fragments of life, and most things seen on tv are not-normal events, like the different protests), but I can imagine it works like that: without a mask you keep more distance than with one. So that would not be a medical thing (does a mask work or not) but a psychological one (do people who are serious about the virus who wear masks keep less distance?).
I can imagine you're judging me (and therefor us as a country), but I hope you also can imagine even though it seems like an 'it's clear, you should....' it's not always that easy to be convinced, giving the reasons above.
We had a meeting with my school last week with about 25 employees in a big room, and though everyone sat apart with distance between each other, the airco was on and the windows were closed. I tended to judge the stupidity of my colleagues (as far as I know it's stupid to be inside like that, and we should open all windows), but I think people just didn't realize it may be stupid behavior. After mentioning what I thought, people agreed to put the windows open, so it was solved. If one of them would have said 'why don't we all wear masks', and had masks with him, I'd have taken one, but I think a lot of us would have refused, simple for the fact of believing it's no good, or even bad.
It's not that I'm not taking the virus and it's dangers seriously, not at all. And it's not that I don't want to wear a mask: it's just like keeping distance, doing more groceries in one time instead of going to the stores daily, not going to places with several people, it's about giving up some comfort, just like if you have to wear a mask. It's really indeed the question whether you're (/I'm) convinced it helps that counts. That said: 'anyone who isn't convinced by now': I'm beginning to develop serious doubts about my lack of faith in the use of masks, if I may put it that way
Quoted from razorsedge:Notice Malasia dipped out of the circle "with masks", and Australia "without masks" is now down nearer the others. Even our initial curve there is way better than that of South Korea. This is data from mid March as well by the looks? . It is hard since the world was all in slightly different places at a given time with various changing trends, restrictions, situations and policies, but the way this graph is displayed helps that a little. Of course if the virus is prevalent in a community it makes sense to wear a mask in case you are a silent carrier.
Everyone in the world can not wear a mask though, there simply aren't enough of them to go around (unless you're making your own?), front line gets priority imho. There are many other angles to reduce transmission. There is no doubt wearing a mask mitigates transmission risk, in appropriate circumstances it is responsible to do that.
The 'time scale' is not from a certain date. It's different for each country, but the zero point is after the first recorded 100 cases per country. So date is irrelevant.
It's written right there on the chart.
If everyone did wear a mask the transmission, and thus infection rates would drop to virtually nothing very quickly.
There certainly could be enough masks, they don't have to be medical grade.
As for the frontline. The hospital I work in buying PPE is switching away from FFP3 masks and moving towards hoods for clinical staff.
As this is likely to continue longterm it will work out more cost efficient as well as freeing up FFP3 masks for other users. It just needs every other hospital to head this way and supply problem (and price gouging) is solved.
Quoted from WJxxxx:The 'time scale' is not from a certain date. It's different for each country, but the zero point is after the first recorded 100 cases per country. So date is irrelevant.
It's written right there on the chart.
If everyone did wear a mask the transmission, and thus infection rates would drop to virtually nothing very quickly.
There certainly could be enough masks, they don't have to be medical grade.
As for the frontline. The hospital I work in buying PPE is switching away from FFP3 masks and moving towards hoods for clinical staff.
As this is likely to continue longterm it will work out more cost efficient as well as freeing up FFP3 masks for other users. It just needs every other hospital to head this way and supply problem (and price gouging) is solved.
No it isn't "from" a certain date, I can see that. Time is in "days".
I was actually refering to the Age of the Chart, which appears to have March 20 printed at the bottom of it. Wether the chart "uses" a date within it's presentation or not, it was still last released or updated at a specific date and time. That is what I was refering to. The chart is well over 2 months old. Lots has changed and been learned since then. I digress.
Masks is not one of the measures we have used here, many others have been used though. We are doing better than most.
Drive to suit the conditions where you are. No problem.
Ugh. Dallas County is officially in a 2nd spike now. Record high single day new cases today, record high single day deaths today: 257/16. That’s just Dallas Co. Tarrant County (Ft. Worth and Arlington) is just as bad. Note that it is right at the 4 weeks mark after Texas “re-opened” and 3 weeks post Mother’s Day weekend. We plateaued the week of the re-opening, and held steady for a few weeks and then saw a 25-30% reduction per day. Got down to like 170/day new. Back well up into the mid 200s now and climbing again. And before it is!asked, our testing is still abhorrent and lagging and has not increased for crap.
It’s such a mixed bag around here. A lot of people are really being careful still, and most major corporations are still working from home. But man, there are just plenty of people completely disregarding all distancing measures. I personally know several people that have gone through it, two people that have neighbors dead from it here, another guy that spent 27 days on a vent and miraculously lived (not doing well, but alive) and a guy that is one of the healthiest, in shape dudes I know that currently has it and says you do not want anything to do with this thing. He swears it takes him 10 minutes to get to the bathroom and he’s wheezing out of breath when he gets there and then back to bed. This guy runs 45-55 miles a week.
And Abbott will not relinquish an inch of control back to the local leaders. We get treated like the fly-over counties with 900 people and 6 total cases, just because we vote for other people around here. Shit. Not good, man.
I’m a little worried about a spike coming from all of these rallies that are going on.
We stopped by a medium sized one tonight in Times Square. Everyone was wearing a mask, so that’s good. People were packed in pretty good but I think it will be a good public health experiment. Is there a noticeable spike, or are the numbers low enough and masks effective enough to mitigate? Guess we’ll find out.
I felt pretty comfortable in the crowd but we moved to the outskirts. It was weird being around so many people again.
Quoted from CrazyLevi:It was weird being around so many people again.
I am in no hurry to be around a crowd.
I would like to go fishing, but I have heard the lakes have been packed.
Quoted from DakotaMike:One thing to bear in mind, is that despite what it may feel like, the US is actually doing better in deaths per capita/million than many other countries. Belgium, Sweden, Spain, Ireland, the UK, Italy, France, and the Netherlands all have more covid deaths per capita than we do in the US, as of 2 days ago. Something to ponder. And for some reason, they're all Western and Northern European countries. And most (all?) have nationalized healthcare systems, if that matters in covid-response.
So I do actually wonder how "bad" we really are doing as country overall dealing with covid-19. I suppose it's all relative.
I'm from Belgium. We were told in the news in the beginning that our country did bad in comparisons because we counted too careful.
Even untested deaths (especially in the beginning there were not enough tests available) that were suspicious (flu like symptoms), elderly people in nursing homes, .. were all counted as C19 deaths.
Some info here: https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2020/04/23/international-press-on-corona-champion-belgium/
The last few week the message changed. Counting more strict doesn't explain all of the difference, compared to deaths in a normal time (a year before).. it seems C19 did impact our country more than some neighbouring countries. Could've been because of holidays, in february we had a week of holiday in schools and many people went skiing in Austria and Northern Italy in the villages that had initally a lot of C19 cases, and brought this back home with them.
As for the European countries - I don't think nationalized healthcare matters, at least not for our country.
In Belgium we had enough icu beds and ventilators, everyone with issues was hospitalised. Some hospitals even started to decrease their number of beds as they were over prepared.
In other countries there weren't enough beds available, or decisions were made who was hospitalised and who not.
Imo the population density is the biggest factor here. My country is just like one big city / suburb / metropolitan area.
There are some open spaces and rural areas but that's all very limited in size. I don't think you can travel anywhere for more than 5 to 10 miles without encountering a village.
Comparing figures related to density will give with other countries (like the USA) with massive open spaces and 'real' rural areas will always be in the advantage of the countries with massive rural areas where no-one lives. You should only compare metropolitan areas or areas that are similary dense if you want to compare numbers of deaths / population.
Bad news for us we're going into a recession for the first time in 29 years . It's weird I remember we were in a recession in the 90s and I went along with another 3000 people for a chance of 13 jobs with the railways . Apparently it comes down to 2 quarters of negative growth in a row .
In good news , according to a university study Australia was the first to strip the shelves of toilet paper and we brought the most rice , pasta and toilet paper compared to other countries . And people think we're laid-back and easygoing .
When I panic brought , I got 4 cartons of beer 
Quoted from JohnnyPinball007:I am in no hurry to be around a crowd.
I would like to go fishing, but I have heard the lakes have been packed.
Start swinging that pole around, if others get too close. Fish on!
Pretty bad timing for mass protests.
Oklahoma st football player tests positive after attending protest in Tulsa.
https://apple.news/ADOqS3HceR3KyDE6m6NFxZQ
Wonder how much they will blow up the numbers with all the people not wearing masks and participating in the protests/riots??
Quoted from Psw757:Italy’s top doctor claiming Covid weakening and showing signs of disappearing like sars in 02/03.
https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN2370OQ
I’m not sure what this means. Viruses don’t “lose potency”. They can mutate into less virulent forms but the article doesn’t say these doctors have isolated a new, less virulent strain.
Quoted from chad:Wonder how much they will blow up the numbers with all the people not wearing masks and participating in the protests/riots??
Was there a noticeable spike in places like Michigan after the protests in government buildings there?
I’m also curious, but hopeful. Most of the protesters I’ve seen have been wearing masks. Cops too (shields). Among the arrested, who knows. I’m sure people lost masks and I doubt the police have provided replacements.
Quoted from gambit3113:Ugh. Dallas County is officially in a 2nd spike now. Record high single day new cases today, record high single day deaths today: 257/16. That’s just Dallas Co. Tarrant County (Ft. Worth and Arlington) is just as bad. Note that it is right at the 4 weeks mark after Texas “re-opened” and 3 weeks post Mother’s Day weekend. We plateaued the week of the re-opening, and held steady for a few weeks and then saw a 25-30% reduction per day. Got down to like 170/day new. Back well up into the mid 200s now and climbing again. And before it is!asked, our testing is still abhorrent and lagging and has not increased for crap.
It’s such a mixed bag around here. A lot of people are really being careful still, and most major corporations are still working from home. But man, there are just plenty of people completely disregarding all distancing measures. I personally know several people that have gone through it, two people that have neighbors dead from it here, another guy that spent 27 days on a vent and miraculously lived (not doing well, but alive) and a guy that is one of the healthiest, in shape dudes I know that currently has it and says you do not want anything to do with this thing. He swears it takes him 10 minutes to get to the bathroom and he’s wheezing out of breath when he gets there and then back to bed. This guy runs 45-55 miles a week.
And Abbott will not relinquish an inch of control back to the local leaders. We get treated like the fly-over counties with 900 people and 6 total cases, just because we vote for other people around here. Shit. Not good, man.
This is exactly what we are seeing in middle Tennessee ... the state opening, the lull before the storm as cases plateau, the relaxation of efforts as everyone thinks the virus has missed us, and then the increasing number of cases. Yet no one is interested yet in taking precautions. It looks like Darwin awards will be prevalent around here.
As a former Texan, I feel your pain. I have a number of relatives in the areas of which you speak. Stay well.
From our state COVID website ...
Capture (resized).JPGQuoted from PantherCityPins:I’m not sure what this means. Viruses don’t “lose potency”. They can mutate into less virulent forms but the article doesn’t say these doctors have isolated a new, less virulent strain.
There are many more articles out over the past few days. For whatever reason they seem to be indicating a similar pattern developing to what happened in 02/03 with SARS. After about 10-12 months it literally dropped of the radar for whatever reason. Didn’t even have enough time to get a vaccine out and Fauci has mentioned this as a possibility when directly asked about it. It’s still unknown.
Edit - there is also some interesting stuff out of Oxford U who is partnered with AZ pharmaceuticals for vaccine development. One of the biggest challenges is the virus is disappearing too fast.
Time will tell but there is a pattern developing in countries that are 1-2 months ahead of us.
Quoted from PantherCityPins:I’m not sure what this means. Viruses don’t “lose potency”. They can mutate into less virulent forms but the article doesn’t say these doctors have isolated a new, less virulent strain.
Perhaps the observation being made by the Italian doctor is that herd immunity has pushed the virus away from the high-risk folks, and the only new infections being seen now are in people who are better equipped from an immune system standpoint to hold it back? So they're not seeing much more in the way of severe complications in positive cases?
On a somewhat related note: why is the death curve flattening in the US, but the infection curve continuing to decelerate more slowly? Is that a direct result of the volume of testing that's now being performed that wasn't being done before?
The proper protocol is to wear a mask in combination with 6 foot social distancing. I see protesters shoulder to shoulder and in each others faces. I also wonder how effective a mask is with yelling and/or heavy breathing from physical exertion.
I will speculate people are removing their masks to catch their breath at times.
Its a legitimate protest that I support, (peaceful) but I'm worried about the Covid consequences along with hospitals becoming occupied with emergency, possibly long-term injuries.
Quoted from embryonjohn:The only problem with that rule is it cedes the public square to the agenda of the professional opinion makers: politicians, news media corporations and Hollywood.
They’re about the last people we should all emulate.
To quote the great William F Buckley:
“I would rather be governed by the first 2,000 people in the telephone directory, than by the Harvard University faculty.”
The Buckley approach doesn't seem to be going well lately.
Quoted from Psw757:Italy’s top doctor claiming Covid weakening and showing signs of disappearing like sars in 02/03.
https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN2370OQ
Sure would be nice if this is true. I think everybody could use a little good news right now.
Quoted from Mr68:The proper protocol is to wear a mask in combination with 6 foot social distancing. I see protesters shoulder to shoulder and in each others faces. I also wonder how effect a mask is with yelling and/or heavy breathing from physical exertion.
I will speculate people are removing their masks to catch their breath.
Its a legitimate protest that I support, but I'm worried about the Covid consequences along with hospitals becoming occupied with emergency injuries.
This is not a large rally and we were on the outskirts. But I don’t think you can find a single person in the photo not wearing a mask.
I’m also worried about it but it does appear that in NY at least people are trying to rally
Safe.
87690D76-2B0B-4F64-B62F-9544D8D836AA (resized).jpegQuoted from screaminr:When I panic brought , I got 4 cartons of beer
Only 4? When this shit got serious I panicked and bought 24 cases. 75 days later they're all gone and I just picked up 6 more flats 
Quoted from dirkdiggler:Only 4? When this shit got serious I panicked and bought 24 cases. 75 days later they're all gone and I just picked up 6 more flats
I’ve just gotten through my initial panic buy supply of chef boy r dee.
I didn’t need to panic buy booze as I’m always a booze prepper.
Quoted from dirkdiggler:Only 4? When this shit got serious I panicked and bought 24 cases. 75 days later they're all gone and I just picked up 6 more flats
Some people sought out TP, the smart ones, the beer! Priorities man. 
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