h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Some people used to reuse teabags as many times as possible. Heck, why stop at reusing coffee filters when you can reuse the grounds as well.

Overheard while I was walking past a group of men (before covid-19 outbreak)
One guy said - you know the best bit of advice you can give anyone ?
one of the other guys asked what's that ?
(pun-line)
Don't die on a Friday! Because you'll have worked a week for nowt

I think Yorkshire's wisdom will never bee depleted.

A Yorkshire-man made a packed with the
The refused! He knew he'd never win

So, is Hell as easier place to do business than Yorkhire?

climate is worse.

Whatever hell charges, we have someone who'll do it for less

yes, but how's the workmanship?

you want it cheap

I'm still waiting for a an example of a good advantage to a quarantine. Right about now I expect things to start fraying around the edges as unemployed people start getting desperate for work and/or food and/or money to pay their rent.

The people in charge go around giving orders and not listening to people who question them. What kind of democracy is that?

One of my local supermarkets lets as many people into the store as possible, but the aisles are all one-way, usually an illogical one-way. People often go the wrong way down those aisles, but if the aisles are empty at the time, where's the harm?

Another supermarket doesn't care what direction you go down the aisles, but they have a strict number of customers to be allowed inside the store at any one time. People stand in very long lines outside sometimes. When one person comes out, the next person in line can go in. On a nice day, it's not so bad standing in that line. On a rainy or cold day, a customer might want to go to one of the other stores.

Ah, but why bother go to that first store if you want certain things that are all sold out?

And why other to look for salads, when other shoppers have already taken the desirable ones, leaving the lousy spinach salads? I tried one, and could not eat more than one or two bites.

The people in charge are constantly insulting the average citizen. We'rte told to wear face coverings or masks, but our masks must not be too good, or we are made to feel guilty for using a mask that a health care worker needs. We're not good enough, even when we try harder.

Now there's a rumor that everyone except senior citizens will be allowed out in the light of day, but those over 65 will still need to shelter in place, even though the governor never said that's what we would be doing at first.

There are about 50 million Americans over 65. Some of us are in first-rate health. Some of us in our 90s are very frail. With such a big and diverse group, why try to lump everybody together?\

The frail elderly who should have been protected for their own good by being cared for in nursing homes were not protected. Half the Coronavirus deaths were people in these institutions. Seniors who live independently in their own homes are doing fine. So why keep us in the attic like people nobody is proud of?

Here in Texas it's a bit different. The supermarkets have relaxed many of their rules; no limiting customer numbers inside, no enforcement of distancing, just the floor markings at the registers. Not all employees wear masks and many that are wear them improperly with their nose exposed. On the first day that restaurants were allowed to reopen at 25% capacity indoors, I went to one that had outdoor seating. But what I experienced there has put me off returning to any restaurant other than take-out. No one, absolutely no one was wearing a mask.

I really hate it that such an apolitical situation as a pandemic has been injected with partisan ideological mass stupidity. I completely understand with the desire to reopen the economy as much as possible, I do. I even agree with some of it. But it takes some participation from the masses. If we want businesses open, everyone should do their part to mitigate infection rates including wearing a mask! Conservative and libertarian sheeple are eschewing masks as some inanely misguided signaling about freedumb or protest against liberals and the "fake" news. This Is Insane!

So, I'm in almost full lockdown with my elderly parents for the duration it seems. I can't rely on my neighbors to even do the minimum.

I'm sorry to hear that.

When push comes to shove, I have my mask covering my nose. I'm six feet (minimum) from other people about 99% of the time.

I can't live locked away for weeks on end, though. I don't have enough stuff stored away. I can make almost any kind of food if I need to, including some delightful hodgepodges that only I could enjoy, but why subsist on canned or powdered stuff when places like Whole Foods are selling the freshest of fresh produce, tons of it, at prices I can afford? I could order some and have them (i.e. Amazon) deliver it to me, but how could I have lived in a world where I could browse in stores t my heart's content for years, and give it all up now?

I'm not hermit material. I may be shy, but I like fresh air and friendly neighbors.

As of the morning of May 20, Denmark has tested 412,051 people. To the great surprise of the researchers, traces of Covid-19 have only been found in 1.1%
The significance of this is now being discussed: Are no antibodies formed in some people? Or do the antibodies disappear as quickly as they arise?
And these are just two of the questions asked

Denmark appears to have managed the virus pretty well, maybe 1.1% infected is consistant with the number of serious illnesses / deaths reported.
At this point it would be very useful if the UK govt would actually do something useful like a significant number of tests in an rea with average reported infection rates.
We might then be able to compare notes....

MSNBC's liberal TV firebrand, Rachel Maddow pointed out something rather curious regarding how various nations are dealing with CoVID-19.

Four of the five worst infection/death rates are in the US, the UK, Brazil, and Russia. Can you spot the similarity in these nation's leaders: Trump, Johnson, Bolsonaro, and Putin?
Trump, UK's Trump, Tropical Trump, and Trump's idol/blackmailer.

And three of these, Trump, Bolsonaro, & Johnson have all touted Hydroxycloroquine, the lupus drug with no scientific evidence of mitigating the virus.

re post 314:

Here's the problem, BB: While Denmark has indeed managed the virus pretty well, the 1.1% infected does *not* seem to be consistant with the number of serious illnesses / deaths reported.

Similarly surprising test results seem to come from other parts of the world as well. So while the experts have many conjectures and expectations, they also have a lot of doubts about how this is developing and what it will end up with. If ever ...

So I'll just wash my hands and sit back and wait

The UK Govt claimed today that 5% nationally & 17% in London had been infected,

Hancock says 17% of Londoners may have had coronavirus

Hancock says the antibody tests suggest that 17% of people in London may have had coronavirus. In the rest of the country the figure is 5%, he says.

Maybe the virus considers Londoners tastier than people in the hinterlands?

An interesting thought, Initially the virus might be considered a rich persons disease, after all those who brought it from china also managed to speadit in Northern Italy were business travellers.
Therefore it's not surprising that London got hit early on as it is a wealthy part of the UK and a centre for business and also will have more people who go on skiing holidays.
Sadley once it arrived it spread to the poorer parts of the community, Cleaners, office maintenance staff transport workers and health workers before precautions were put in place.

Yep, that seems to be the pattern everywhere