The calm before the storm,

General Discussion
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How many here are in stocking up mode?

How many expect they might get the virus?

It’s plenty true that virus kill all the time, and that “we” will survive this, but sounds like it still does kill a fair amount. Society will keep limping along, but there will be other hits.

How’s it feeling? It’s hitting home for me as I’m readying the place for my wife’s return from a hotbed zone. We’ve talked out decontamination plans before coming all the way home. But even the best decontamination will still leave what’s inside. In other words, I’m half way expecting us to have to go through, as I’ve gotten to call it, the COVID-19 roller coaster. We intend to self-quarantine ourselves three, four weeks, thus the scramble to get supplies into our cellar.

Between playing in the Chicago River of the '60s and doing plenty of ugly plumbing jobs that offered my body plenty of exposures to nasty shit, I’ve always felt my immune system has been a rather healthy one, but I am just about 65, and though reasonably healthy I’m certainly not what I used to be, there has been wear and tear, so we’ll see. Meaning there’s no point in not pondering that it could be my turn in a few weeks. A few more days calm and thence shall see what happens.

I’ve spent a lot of decades worrying about our neglectful attitudes to everything but our self-indulgence - cascading consequences and all that. While the idiot Republicans say we never saw this coming, or blame everyone else but themselves, in reality we had a lot of smart people warning us that this WOULD happen at some point - sooo, lets think about preparing. But, nooo.

Now it’s here and one of the things that crosses my mind is that I would rather go faster than slower, choking to death does not sound much fun. Although, best of all would be sneak through with only a shitty case of the flu. I do have some people that would like me to stick around for a few more years.

ps. hey, and for a look at what’s happening in the heartland: https://swlplibrarydistrict.org/covid-19-virus-info

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An acute or chronic inflammation of the lungs caused by viruses, bacteria or other microorganisms, or sometimes by physical or chemical irritants.
Wiki definition of pneumonia.

This is the usual ultimate “cause” of death when people are hit hard with some disease and are confined to bed, especially older people who tend to be not as healthy and not as active as they once were and thus don’t have good circulation and less lung capacity. Just like very young babies, elders often don’t have the strength to cough out phlegm and fluids in their lungs. Ventilators are sometimes used to help patients breath, but they are not without risk. Look up ventilator-associated pneumonia.

This might be the perfect storm that brings the whole fucking system down. Definitely things will never ever be the same
The sky is not falling. Panic is just plain dumb. Look at the figures. We are not having millions getting infected much less dying. The virus is not particularly severe among otherwise healthy people. There is a real probability that the health system will be stressed, but the social distancing and at home recovery we are doing makes it very unlikely that our hospitals will be overwhelmed.

It will probably not be as severe a blow to the overall economy as even some very bad hurricanes. The stock market was way overdue for a big correction. Look at history; we have had a 20 year boom and bust cycle in this country for at least the last 150 years. This will be remembered as a once in a lifetime buying opportunity. Ask Buffett whether he is buying or selling. Every time someone sells, someone else is buying.

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LobicBob: It will probably not be as severe a blow to the overall economy as even some very bad hurricanes.
You never miss chance to reveal how clueless you are about our Physical Reality.

Not that I fully agree with Greenest, but as Asimov would say, he’s way less wrong than you are.

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This might be the perfect storm that brings the whole fucking system down. Definitely things will never ever be the same
Being a little away from major population centers, people were driving two hours to buy toilet paper from my local grocery. I missed the rush on wipes, but I've got some bleach and alcohol. Hopefully I won't need all of it.

As for “bringing the system down”, wasn’t it coming down already? Isn’t this just an acknowledgment from the people that have been gambling with our wealth that their little game is over? I don’t like the word “panic”. For sanitizer buyers, it’s what we told them to do, although, okay, not 10 years worth. For stock sellers, it’s their job to predict the economy 6 months out. They were making money off beer drinkers, Applebee’s eaters, pointless shopping of plastic junk buyers and mindless dropping of quarters into slot machines. That unsustainable economy is now gone. We could have created an economy based on healthier food, innovation in plastic technology, better batteries, conversion of coal to solar, preventative health care, on and on. We could have shared all of that with poorer countries so they could also have the infrastructure to prevent pandemics. Instead, we developed a “service economy”. Remember the response to 9/11?

Things are exactly the same. This is one part of Xain’s analysis of humans that he gets right. It’s much easier to hide from the reality of a world where all we have is each other, than it is to actually support each other.

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They were making money off beer drinkers, Applebee’s eaters, pointless shopping of plastic junk buyers and mindless dropping of quarters into slot machines. That unsustainable economy is now gone. We could have created an economy based on healthier food, innovation in plastic technology, better batteries, conversion of coal to solar, preventative health care, on and on. We could have shared all of that with poorer countries so they could also have the infrastructure to prevent pandemics. Instead, we developed a “service economy”. Remember the response to 9/11?

Things are exactly the same. This is one part of Xain’s analysis of humans that he gets right. It’s much easier to hide from the reality of a world where all we have is each other, than it is to actually support each other.


Every Ponzi scheme has its day.

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Lausten: "It’s much easier to hide from the reality of a world where all we have is each other, than it is to actually support each other."
I see friends who are rabid conservatives, posting all sorts of stuff on Facebook saying how the government should help those in need.

These are the same people who think we should cut taxes, fire nurses and teachers and reduce funding for all sorts of programs to save money.

The moment this crisis is over, they will all go back to their previous selves and nothing will be different.

It’s sad that so many people are unable to see that the good in one situation would also work in other situations. Only when it hits home or they have friends who are affected does helping others matter.

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Actually you misunderstand me, we don’t have each other as this crisis makes clear. Also what I meant is that it’s easier to hide from the reality that nothing matters

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Oh but much more satisfying to make peace with it and still live an interesting enjoyable life.

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My husband and I aren’t in stocking up mode, but given that we work in hell (Hellmart AKA Walmart) we expect we have a higher chance of getting it and we don’t want it. Why don’t we stock up? 1. we usually don’t take more than we need. 2. we can’t because others are stockpiling 3. there isn’t anything left on the shelves we need.

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We, live over twenty miles out of town and we will be quarantined 3, 4 weeks, it wouldn’t make sense not to prepare and stock up. :wink:

 

Enjoy your todays and your people with all you got. Especially us older ones ><, ;-), <3 .

 

 

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Well, T rump told us to buy groceries weekly, rather than stocking up. I think I am in the high risk group, so I am staying home. I am going for groceries today. If I get enough staples to get thru a couple of weeks, then I will need to get more, then. In two weeks, there may be 16 times the number of infected people out there. At that point, maybe grocery deliveries will be in order.

Many young people are apparently congregating and partying as usual. And they are no doubt passing the infection about, willy nilly, despite the drastic economy busting measures being directed by governmental agencies, corporations, etc. I wonder why they are not out rocking the vote for Bernie. They were supposed to be the heart of the new progressive revolution. Well, maybe some other lifetime. Now is their time to drink themselves senseless and fuck to their heart’s content. I can’t blame them too much.

I think it is logical for each of us to expect that we will contract the virus at some point. Hey, maybe I can survive it.

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It is said that in two years 60-80% of us will be affected by COVID-19. Not sure what “affected” means in this case. That is, does it mean 60-80% of us will get it or know someone who got it and/or died from it or all the above? The word in this case could mean anything.

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I wager 100% of us will be affected.

Correct :wink:

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@greenfist

Infected or affected?

Affected and I agree it will be more like 100%. I can’t see it being any other way and the author of that article had to be using the wrong word.

Now the percentage of those who get it (infected) within the next two years is also 60-80%, but I’ve also read 40-60%.

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The aisles of my local Aldi’s was definitely affected by the pandemic. Some things were just gone. But there was plenty of edible stuff left to pick from. It was only allowed for anyone to pick 4 cans of any particular variety of canned goods. Several other things were designated as a limited amount you could purchase, also.

(including toilet paper, what’s up with the get-all-the-toilet-paper craze?)

Maybe it’s so that when you find out that a neighbor has COVID-19, you can express your disdain for their infected status by toilet papering the trees in their front yard.

 

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https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/lifestyle-buzz/bidet-sales-soar-as-toilet-paper-sells-out-amid-coronavirus-fears/ar-BB11izAn?ocid=spartanntp

Now Americans are going for bidets. It must be that Americans are desperate to have a clean a-hole, should they die from COVID-19. How considerate for those who wind up having to deal with their bodies.

 

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Younger people are calling COVID19 the “boomer remover” .

Pretty harsh joke but it’s understandable.

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Public schools in Kansas closed for the rest of the school year!

Lucky little bastards but their parents are going to shit bricks. Schools in my state are closed for 10 days as of yesterday and I had to take my son to work with me. It’s not bad but I hope it doesn’t get extended.

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Missouri schools are closed too. Seems to me, that every day the number of cases just doubles. MO had 2 one day and the next day it was 4 and today, I think it’s 8 or 9. KS went the same way, just doubling every day. Not sure if it’s due to more testing or if the cases really are doubling. Could be both. However, I think it’s been floating around since the end of February in KS and MO, thus people are now coming down with it. Nope, it’s 16 in MO and I think I heard 11 for KS, just heard it on the local news.

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Tim is that a retrofit for any ol Ami toilet? American genius. What will they think of next.

Yeah I could have clicked the link to find out, but some things are best left to the imagination.