Coronavirus General Discussion

[Maddy]

The end game? If Bill Gates and DARPA have its way, it's only the beginning.

https://steemit.com/covid/@munkle/perma ... a-approval

I admit, Maddy, that I am huge Andy Grove acolyte. "Only the paranoid survive". Honestly, though, this will never gain any traction. I think the article may be stretching the facts a bit.

But even if it is dead on to rights, it isn't going to happen. Really.
There are enough people (more than 75% of the US) who will not support this.

Could it happen in my lifetime? Maybe. Keep your eyes open. But I wouldn't bet on it. DARPA does a lot of weird shit that never sees the light of day. A lot of folks (ahem) have used DARPA as an ATM for projects that never see the light of day.

I do appreciate your perspective. A lot to agree with there.

Mark

I, too, would have never thought this possible. But who would have thought that the governors in a majority of states could take away our basic liberties to the extent they have, and that there would be virtually no push-back? I'm still having a hard time getting my mind around the fact that 95% of the population, even in this conservative small town, is buying the whole mask thing.

[Mark Leavy]

I'm still having a hard time getting my mind around the fact that 95% of the population, even in this conservative small town, is buying the whole mask thing.

True that. I struggle with that every day. It is very "police state". And there is no other way to describe it. For or against, it is still police state.

[jalanlong]

In my area of North Dallas we are living in a very stratified society right now. Its a weird universe where some people are living as normal and others are living as in a SciFi movie.

As I went out to eat yesterday, I passed multiple parks and school fields where little league baseball and youth football were going on. There were tons of parents/spectators. No one was distancing nor wearing a mask. But then at the restaurant I witnessed a couple who spent their entire meal with gloves and masks on and there was nobody else anywhere near their booth. They pulled down their mask to take a bite of food or a drink of tea, and then quickly pulled them back up.

When I went to Ikea yesterday there was a line to get in. The reason for the line is that there was an employee at the door whose job was to only let one customer in at a time: let one in, then hold the next one until the count of 6 and then let the next one in, for distancing purposes. No thought of the fact that standing outside in a line forced everyone closer together than they would have been otherwise or that once inside we could do as we pleased. That was the quintessential example of doing something inconvenient and really useless, all for looks.

[Mountaineer]

I have a difficult time deciding whether we are mostly sheep, lemmings, or wolves. Probably all three as it always has been and probably always will be until the last day.

[dualstow]

Has anyone already posted about the reinfection news? Hong Kong and the Netherlands.

Bill Gates has done more for humanity than most. Eradicating diseases and building toilets in India. God bless him.

[Cortopassi]

Here's the latest school/county (Cook) guidelines. I looked at other various counties, and some are high, some are low. How the rate will EVER get to <7 in Cook, without a vaccine, seems impossible. Goal posts moved again....

The DEATH rate of the flu in IL in 2018 was 16.3 per 100k. Who knows what the cases rate was. This is insane.
---------
Stage 1: Greater than 175 weekly cases per 100,000 people
Stage 2: Between 70 – 174 weekly cases per 100,000 people
Stage 3: Between 7 – 69 weekly cases per 100,000 people
Stage 4: Fewer than 7 weekly cases per 100,000 people

We have updated our stages and descriptions of the type of instruction that will take place based on these metrics.

Stage 1: Fully Remote with only off-site, in-person programming occurring
Students will participate via remote instruction with a limited number of students invited to participate via in-person instruction in an off-campus class or program such as Practical Architectural Construction.

Stage 2: Partially Remote with hybrid on-site programming for our Specialized Populations and Programs
Students will participate primarily via remote instruction, with a limited number of students in specialized populations (e.g. special education) and programs invited into the building. Those in the building would have either in-person instruction with their assigned teacher or case manager or be in a small learning pod, participating in remote instruction but remaining with the same group while in the building.

Stage 3: Partially Flexible In-Person/Remote Learning Plan
Students will participate via remote instruction or in-person instruction depending on the day or week. Students will be invited to rotate into the building and parents will continue to have the choice to send their students for in-person instruction or continue to participate via remote instruction. Classroom capacity restrictions will be in effect.

Stage 4: Fully Flexible In-Person/Remote Learning Plan
Students will participate via in-person instruction or remote instruction. Students will have the option for open campus. Parents will continue to have the ability to choose on a day-to-day basis.

Current case rate

[Tortoise]

Cortopassi, those stages in your county look similar to California’s new color-coded tiers.

I don’t think it’s dawned on most people yet that the false positive rate of most SARS-CoV-2 tests is higher than the thresholds of the least-restrictive stages, meaning it’s mathematically impossible to make it to those stages.

[shekels]

Without Tyranny.
You always have a choice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE518ans5dM

[I Shrugged]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medica ... li=BBnbfcL

Your coronavirus test is positive. Maybe it shouldn't be.
The gist of this is that by reducing test results to positive or negative, we are including a huge number of people who don't have enough viral load to be of any threat. Possibly 90% of positives fall into that group.

[Hal]

Melbourne makes it onto Armstrong Economics

https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/inte ... australia/

[Maddy]

Bill Gates has done more for humanity than most. Eradicating diseases and building toilets in India. God bless him.

IMHO, Bill Gates is just another economic hitman. His philanthropy comes with strings attached. Or maybe I should say "chains attached."

Here he is, declaring that "You don't have a choice." Normalcy will return, he says, only after the entire worldwide population is vaccinated. https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/inte ... for-power/ Those aren't the words of a humanitarian, but of a megalomaniac who, like many high-functioning autistics, views other people are mere props in his play.

I'm always fascinated by his overtly autistic traits. Watch the wildly uncoordinated, almost spastic, body movements that occur while he speaks. He has no idea where his body parts are in space. He is unable to control his emotions or to even modulate his voice.

The scary thing about all this is that while isolated parts of his brain are on overdrive, he appears to be lacking in the normal wiring that makes us essentially "human." Which is why, I imagine, he lives in a world of algorithms, seemingly unable to assimilate information that entails the unpredictability of emotional intelligence, value judgments, or the incorporation of paradigms other than his own. And which is why, I imagine, he embraces a new world order where people interface with the world and with other people through "devices," and where ultimately people are fully merged with computers. In fact, but for the computer revolution, which finally gave only marginally functional people like Bill Gates an opportunity to succeed at something, he would probably be in a state hospital.

[Tortoise]

Massachusetts' government has put barriers in place for learning pods to make sure they don't compete too much with the teachers' unions:

Learning pods, or groups convened by up to five families, will be able to operate without licenses, as long as a parent is on-site at all times. Payments are not allowed, and exchanges of funds are limited to compensation for food and materials.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/08/28/ ... e-schools/

[Xan]

Massachusetts' government has put barriers in place for learning pods to make sure they don't compete too much with the teachers' unions:

Learning pods, or groups convened by up to five families, will be able to operate without licenses, as long as a parent is on-site at all times. Payments are not allowed, and exchanges of funds are limited to compensation for food and materials.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/08/28/ ... e-schools/

Wow... That's pretty terrifying. Here in Texas that could not happen, at least not without major changes: private schools require no licensing. Sounds kind of dystopian to require such a thing to me.

[jalanlong]

Massachusetts' government has put barriers in place for learning pods to make sure they don't compete too much with the teachers' unions:

Learning pods, or groups convened by up to five families, will be able to operate without licenses, as long as a parent is on-site at all times. Payments are not allowed, and exchanges of funds are limited to compensation for food and materials.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/08/28/ ... e-schools/

Wow... That's pretty terrifying. Here in Texas that could not happen, at least not without major changes: private schools require no licensing. Sounds kind of dystopian to require such a thing to me.

It could be worse:

https://www.dw.com/en/european-court-ru ... a-47021333

[Xan]

Massachusetts' government has put barriers in place for learning pods to make sure they don't compete too much with the teachers' unions:

Learning pods, or groups convened by up to five families, will be able to operate without licenses, as long as a parent is on-site at all times. Payments are not allowed, and exchanges of funds are limited to compensation for food and materials.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/08/28/ ... e-schools/

Wow... That's pretty terrifying. Here in Texas that could not happen, at least not without major changes: private schools require no licensing. Sounds kind of dystopian to require such a thing to me.

It could be worse:

https://www.dw.com/en/european-court-ru ... a-47021333

Okay, wow, that is utterly unbelievably awful.

[yankees60]

Massachusetts' government has put barriers in place for learning pods to make sure they don't compete too much with the teachers' unions:

Learning pods, or groups convened by up to five families, will be able to operate without licenses, as long as a parent is on-site at all times. Payments are not allowed, and exchanges of funds are limited to compensation for food and materials.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/08/28/ ... e-schools/

Wow... That's pretty terrifying. Here in Texas that could not happen, at least not without major changes: private schools require no licensing. Sounds kind of dystopian to require such a thing to me.

Welcome to life in a Blue State. Coming soon to TX with the influx of liberal Californians fleeing the mess they created there.

I actually don't know anyone who is leaving Massachusetts!

Vinny

[Xan]

I actually don't know anyone who is leaving Massachusetts!

That may not be terribly representative as you haven't left your house for 8 months. ;-)

[Hal]

Evidence we are living in The Twilight Zone.

Russia calling Australia a Nazi State.

https://www.rt.com/news/499668-australi ... -lockdown/

scratch Australia off the list of cool country's,
it was on my "places i would like to visit" list, with the direction they have chosen to go in, it may be a while before it gets back on..

[Tortoise]

Evidence we are living in The Twilight Zone.

Russia calling Australia a Nazi State.

https://www.rt.com/news/499668-australi ... -lockdown/

Australia began as a penal colony, and apparently they've decided to return to their roots.

[dualstow]

Bill Gates has done more for humanity than most. Eradicating diseases and building toilets in India. God bless him.

IMHO, Bill Gates is just another economic hitman. His philanthropy comes with strings attached. Or maybe I should say "chains attached."

Here he is, declaring that "You don't have a choice." Normalcy will return, he says, only after the entire worldwide population is vaccinated. https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/inte ... for-power/ Those aren't the words of a humanitarian, but of a megalomaniac who, like many high-functioning autistics, views other people are mere props in his play.

I'm always fascinated by his overtly autistic traits. Watch the wildly uncoordinated, almost spastic, body movements that occur while he speaks. He has no idea where his body parts are in space. He is unable to control his emotions or to even modulate his voice.

The scary thing about all this is that while isolated parts of his brain are on overdrive, he appears to be lacking in the normal wiring that makes us essentially "human." Which is why, I imagine, he lives in a world of algorithms, seemingly unable to assimilate information that entails the unpredictability of emotional intelligence, value judgments, or the incorporation of paradigms other than his own. And which is why, I imagine, he embraces a new world order where people interface with the world and with other people through "devices," and where ultimately people are fully merged with computers. In fact, but for the computer revolution, which finally gave only marginally functional people like Bill Gates an opportunity to succeed at something, he would probably be in a state hospital.

Cold, Maddy.
We do the best we can with what we have.

[Kriegsspiel]

Frankly, it's completely bonkers that Australia is in such a tizzy about the 'rona with all the deadly nightmares it's already stocked up on.

[Hal]

Frankly, it's completely bonkers that Australia is in such a tizzy about the 'rona with all the deadly nightmares it's already stocked up on.

"+1" Lucky Australia is an island so these critters don't visit you
https://untamedscience.com/biodiversity/death-adder/

Edit: From Economics site https://www.facebook.com/adamseconomics ... 6869188974

[boglerdude]

https://www.reddit.com/r/AustralianPoli ... my_facing/

Australia's 1st recession in 30 years. what about Dalios "cycles." The real world changes and backtesting doesnt predict the future.

[Hal]

https://www.reddit.com/r/AustralianPoli ... my_facing/

Australia's 1st recession in 30 years. what about Dalios "cycles." The real world changes and backtesting doesnt predict the future.

Check out the chart
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/austr ... rop-record

[WiseOne]

Massachusetts' government has put barriers in place for learning pods to make sure they don't compete too much with the teachers' unions:

Learning pods, or groups convened by up to five families, will be able to operate without licenses, as long as a parent is on-site at all times. Payments are not allowed, and exchanges of funds are limited to compensation for food and materials.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/08/28/ ... e-schools/

Good luck enforcing that. All the parents have to do is claim the tutors are babysitters. Making child care and homeschooling illegal would be a pretty tough bar for the state to cross.

The backlash will be fun to watch. And yes, I expect this is all about teacher's unions and protecting public schools. I foresee these pod schools becoming quite popular to the point where a lot of people will opt out of the public schools, once they see how much better the pod schools are than the state-run, teach to the lowest common denominator public schools. I sure as heck would have preferred it to public schools when I was growing up.