OFF TOPIC: How are you holding up during these troubling times?

DarthJ wrote:90 % ? That will never happen. Maybe 20 %

So if 20% of those people work from home then auto traffic will be reduced by 10-12%. Even if only one auto commuter works from home, there are still less cars on the road.

DarthJ wrote:Quote : I live in Canada, but my whole ancestry is Belgian. Whereabouts are you?  Just curious.

Vicinity of Brussels.

Not so far from this castle.



And not so far from this church.

Ah! My father was born in Brussels; Sint-Jans Molenbeek to be precise and lived in Jette, and my mother was born in Leuven but lived in Veltem-Beisem and Brussels, all depending on the year. They came to Canada in 1956 right after they were married.

shazzdan wrote:

DarthJ wrote:90 % ? That will never happen. Maybe 20 %

So if 20% of those people work from home then auto traffic will be reduced by 10-12%. Even if only one auto commuter works from home, there are still less cars on the road.

You forget to factor in that some people who own cars still prefer to take public transit in to work to avoid traffic, gasoline costs, parking problems etc but that many of these people are now driving in to work as it's safer than public transportation. The Montreal, Canada (where I live) is slowly reopening for business as of May 11, but so far, I don't see any more people in the subways.

I think it will take a while before we realize the full extent of the changes to how we do things, and also, new businesses are bound to emerge to take advantage of the particular conditions imposed by these changes in our lives.

When the shutdowns first happened, and I was still on the road working, the number of vehicles on the road didn’t diminish all that much from what I could see. Sure there wasn’t as big a delay during peak driving hours, but it wasn’t that significant as I had to drive thru the Minnesota Twin Cities. Even after being furloughed, there was still significant traffic — somewhat akin to a government shutdown.

While many people may choose, if their companies allow it, to work from home, there will still be millions of commercial vehicles on the roads to deliver goods.

As far as humanity in general goes — people are people, and during any tragic event, and for a brief period of time afterward, kindness and generosity bloom. But once things are forgotten, people have a tendency to go back to their routine of “every man for himself”. It’s human nature, and has been throughout our history — nothing can change that.

And as far as injustices go — many so-called “injustices” are self-inflicted. If your circumstance suck, and you have the will and fortitude, change them. I was born into a moderately poor family, was homeless by 17 (due to my own crap behavior and bad decisions). No one lifted a finger to help me, and I spent 6 months (that felt like a lifetime) on the streets dumpster-diving for something to eat. I didn’t become a thief, or a drug dealer, or do anything else that could possibly lead me down a further path of self-destruction. I decided to consciously make the effort to stop feeling sorry for myself, blaming others (specifically my parents) for the circumstance I was born into, and the decisions I made, that put me on the streets, and got off my @$$ and made changes that ultimately changed my life. Most people who are in a “rough” situation have the ability to change those circumstances for themselves, instead, they’ve been brain-washed to think it’s someone else’s fault and responsibility to change it for them. I say BS — get off your @$$ and change your situation. It’s not going to be easy, or fair — but that’s life. Life is not fair, nor is it meant to be — Nature is, and always will be, “survival of the fittest.”

As far as what happens next with this virus — more people will die. Plain and simple. We can’t expect the entire world to stay shut down because more people will de. People die every day from cancer, the flu, other ailments, accidents, murder, war, etc.. are we supposed to destroy the word’s economy, and everyone’s livelihood every time someone dies? Im one of those people who has at high risk of getting this Kung Flu (thanks China), but it’s MY responsibility to do what I can to keep from getting it — not my neighbors, not my employer, and certainly not the governments — ME, and ME alone. If I get the Kung Flu and die... oh well; that’s life. People need to take responsibility for themselves and their own actions. If one doesn’t want to get sick and die from this pandemic — then stay home (don’t go to those group gatherings, or to a restaurant) — that’s your choice. People are losing their businesses, their jobs, their ability to provide for their families — yet we’ve already lost more people to the flu in this country than to this pandemic. We’ve had a massive increase in drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, suicide, and even scumbags taking advantage of having to wear masks to commit more home invasions and other crimes. There are even people on the brink of revolution here in the states. They need to reopen the world, bring manufacturing back from China, and get on with our lives. We roll the dice and take our chances every time we walk out the door, this time is no different than any other virus (from the Spanish Flu, Bird Flu, Swine Flu, AIDS, etc.), other than it spreads faster. They’re not even recording the death rates accurately — padding the numbers to scare the crap out of people.


I don’t know. I’m so pissed off right now, it’s not funny. I’m not trying to offend anyone, just my opinion and view on this whole thing.

Stryker - This is a very sensitive topic that affects everyone in the world directly one way or another, and is also an extremely fraught life-and-death situation for so many, so it's understandable we will get passionate about it, need to vent our frustrations, and likewise will be upset and even offended at times. 

I completely understand what you are saying and appreciate the spirit of it, even if I may disagree on various details and specific interpretations about the nature of humanity, the roots of injustice in the world, individual vs. societal responsibilities, economic systems, and regarding the hopeful, eventual outcomes of the entire situation. I do agree that certain things are likely to get a lot worse before they get 'better', but I also feel pretty strongly that what is 'better' for the world as a whole will turn out to be something that has never yet been seen before. Going back to the precise way things were just isn't sustainable. Of course, keeping things shut down indefinitely is not sustainable either, and has its own perils and ill effects, as you note, but neither ought we to just plunge back into a previous way of life when we have a chance to improve it. It's certainly not a bad thing to wish for a better and more just world for everyone. And no one said anything about 'hand outs' or 'the government' being responsible for said better world, either -- I personally have no faith in any current political system to achieve that. ;p No, rather I feel that any lasting positive changes that might come out of this situation will be ones that occur on a grassroots level. : ) 

That's the most I feel comfortable saying on the subject, mainly because the point of the thread is for everyone to 'check in', and see how we are all doing, and it's not really my place to go further than that here. The world needs less arguing and disagreement anyway, and I don't wish to contribute in any way to the estrangement of peoples at a time when we need each other most.

It's definitely the apocalypse - over here we have a celebrity conspiracy theorist vegan chef with katanas, a shotgun and a Porsche (with Samurai energy drinks on it.)
Some thinks you can't make up.

Ovy wrote:It's definitely the apocalypse - over here we have a celebrity conspiracy theorist vegan chef with katanas, a shotgun and a Porsche (with Samurai energy drinks on it.)
Some thinks you can't make up.

Maybe you can't make it up, but you might be able to model it in 1/6 scale

Haha, just wow. And yes, now we gotta see it.

skywalkersaga wrote:Haha, just wow. And yes, now we gotta see it.

He could be based on SNL Samurai Deli sketch from many years ago.


https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2qc9eg

I find it bizarre that we have completely shut down our economy to deal with this problem but not the many other equally serious ones.

Heart disease and stroke kill around 15 million people each year.
Respiratory diseases (not including COVID-19) kill around 3 million each year.
Lung cancer kills around 1.7 million each year.
Diabetes kills around 1.6 million each year.
Traffic accidents kill around 1.4 million each year.
Diarrhoea kills around 1.4 million each year.
TB kills around 1.3 million each year.

There are unexpected benefits from killing the economy. During economic downturns you see more deaths from suicide and drug overdoses but pretty much all other categories of death, from heart disease to traffic accidents, decrease.

Keep in mind that the measures put in place are not designed to stop people getting the disease. If there is no vaccine, we will all get it at some point. If not his time, then next time. The measures put in place are designed to "flatten the curve" - to slow the spread of the virus so that the hospital system doesn't get overwhelmed. A lot of lives can be saved if they are given timely medical attention. All we can do is hope that when we get the disease that there is a hospital bed available if we need it.

They’re not even recording the death rates accurately — padding the numbers to scare the crap out of people.

Actually it is the opposite. COVID deaths are being UNDER-reported. It is pretty obvious when you compare this year's number of deaths to that of previous years. It is already a lot worse than the seasonal flu and hasn't slowed down yet.

I cannot comment on what is happening elsewhere, but I do know that the numbers are definitely being under-reported in the UK, which is rather disturbing seeing as we already have highest death toll in Europe (and second highest in the world, last time I checked), and it’s nowhere near ‘over’ yet.

I guess it’s not surprising for a tiny island country with a relatively quite large population living all crammed together (in England, that is), but it also is a result of many other contributing factors (which I won’t get into as it would be a very big rant indeed).

Crazily, the current ‘eased’ lockdown restrictions mean that we could now travel to the Netherlands via ferry, but we’re still not allowed to cross into Wales or Scotland — not that I blame them for wanting to keep potentially idiotic and troublesome plague-spreading holiday-makers away, but still... such a surreal feeling.

That’s not entirely true (about the reporting), I mean. It’s already been revealed (that here in the US, anyway) that even if someone died of a heart attack, and it was discovered that they had C-19, its being reported as a death by the virus; same goes for a lot of other health related deaths. Many states have said they are no longer testing every single dead person — if they died during this pandemic, they are reporting it as a Kung Flu death. No doubt much of this is an attempt to get more Federal aid — as states like New York and California have been trying to do — in the meantime, over the last couple of weeks, they’ve been selling off their respirators to other states, and not using nearly as many beds as they claimed they were. Hospitals laid people off because so-called non-essential departments have been closed. People aren’t going to the ERs, or even the Dr. office, as much as they probably should, because they’ve been scared to death (some can do phone consults, of course), but others cannot. Even Google, Facebook and Twitter have been removing photos and other items posted by people working in the health care fields showing this to be the case. Since those organizations have an extremely biased political affiliation, that’s probably in an attempt to influence the upcoming November election. I’ve seen more than a few stories I wish I had copied before they were removed.

While flattening the curve and slowing the spread certainly is the case, the people who seem to be encouraging everyone to stay at home and keep the economy shut down (until there’s a cure — which has never happened for any virus, or anything else that kills people; or a vaccine) are the people making scads of money (like the vermin in Hollywood, sports, and politics) — and have yet to feel the financial pinch.

Here people come up with some absurd plans as Covid19 prevention. Absurd in a sense that they are not very feasible and at worst will be contra-productive.
The latest one is our coastal towns wanting people to reserve their spot at the beach during the summer season. Own inhabitants and hotel guests would get priority.
This with the Belgian coast being a 65 km long almost uninterrupted stretch of sandy beach which is easy accessible everywhere. They would have to fence off the whole 65 km and guard it 24/24 but this beach doesn't end at the borders of both France and the Netherlands, so 1 yard further there would be no fence at all. Can you see all the people gathering at exactly those just-over-the-border spots ? Or they would have to guard the borders too.
Too bad too if you reserve a day with bad weather.
And after that you will also have to reserve a spot in pubs, restaurants, etc ...
Already there is a difference of opinion with some towns wanting severe restrictions and some wanting only limited measures. I can see all the tourists flocking to the "easy" towns.

Stryker2011 wrote:That’s not entirely true (about the reporting), I mean. It’s already been revealed (that here in the US, anyway) that even if someone died of a heart attack, and it was discovered that they had C-19, its being reported as a death by the virus; same goes for a lot of other health related deaths. Many states have said they are no longer testing every single dead person — if they died during this pandemic, they are reporting it as a Kung Flu death

None of that matters. The total number of deaths each year is very constant. You can predict to a narrow margin every month how many deaths to expect. The only time it varies outside that constant is when there is an unexpected event such as a natural disaster or an outbreak of disease. The only event that is new this year is the COVID pandemic. So all of the additional deaths so far this year can be attributed to that event.

shazzdan wrote:
None of that matters. The total number of deaths each year is very constant.

This is true. According to a researcher who’s been tracking all deaths here in the US since 2017 — regardless of cause (accidental, health, etc.) — the numbers have been consistent and haven’t fluctuated much at all.

Belgium had about 3 times as much deaths as usual in this period. That's mostly due to Corona.
But then this country didn't minimize its death toll.

We have a curfew for today. Work is allowing us to go home early and we get paid for a full shift.

one of my co-workers only worked 2 hours, walkin like

A good chance to help people who need help. To show what kind of character you are. Make some shopping trips for old people and bring the stuff to them. Dolphins came back to Venice.... Nature regenerates in areas of much tourism. Try to see the good things. Stay in the Light, young Jedi... make love, not hate.

If I'm down sometimes... I watch videos at YouTube like this. You feel much better then.

Just a friendly reminder that this thread is intended to check on how you are doing in this difficult time. But in keeping with the forum's strict political neutrality, this is not the place for anything even remotely approaching political or nationalistic agitation or rhetoric. Any inappropriate or non-pertinent posts will be removed.

I am so happy to see these replies here..... that means most of you live well......

Have a new technic, Friends.

1. place Your mobile phone on the breakfast table.

2. choose Justin Timberlake https://youtu.be/ru0K8uYEZWw?t=4

3. make some crazy dance moves with Your coffee mug in your hand

4. feel it !


5. don´t watch this people on the streets

Ephiane wrote:Have a new technic, Friends.

1. place Your mobile phone on the breakfast table.

2. choose Justin Timberlake https://youtu.be/ru0K8uYEZWw?t=4

3. make some crazy dance moves with Your coffee mug in your hand

4. feel it !


5. don´t watch this people on the streets

One problem, I don't have a cell phone. Not at home at least.

Number 5 is me when it comes to Justin Timberlake. Sorry, Ephi. That one is an easy pass. I’ll take Katie Perry’s first CD & some of her 2nd instead.

If you want some crazy dance moves I would recommend Rammstein while wielding a flamethrower.

Stryker2011 wrote:Number 5 is me when it comes to Justin Timberlake. Sorry, Ephi. That one is an easy pass. I’ll take Katie Perry’s first CD & some of her 2nd instead.

It´s not Justin Timberlake or any other name of showbusiness Guys. Please watch the ordinary people by show their fun of life in the video. I can´t do this without feel happyness by myself. Watch the people and turn of the music, so You don´t have to hear J. T.

I just mean.... watch grim people.... get grim. Watch happy people ... get happy. I can´t watch happy people outside, there are no. So i use this clip that for. For me it works, so i like to share it with Guys i like to see happy

I watched the video. It was funny. And as suggested, with the sound off — which made it a little weird, but at least it was bearable. Where I’m at I still see people out and about, and many of them don’t seem too miserable... yet.