SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689

uziq wrote:

yes, that was happening in southern europe especially. in italy they were spraying beaches for fuck’s sake, just about the most over the top and ineffectual strategy possible.

what’s interesting is that this year the mosquitos have been really bad in SK and taiwan. that’s actually because municipal authorities didn’t want to alarm people with widespread spraying, as normally happens every mozzy season. the streets filling up with billowing white smoke are normally sights in asian cities associated with that. now people are frightened that it’s covid measures.
My sister's boyfriend works for animal control in our city. He said that wild animal like squirrels are becoming more numerous and bold due to less people being out and about. I find that really funny and kind of heartwarming. A lot of people post on Facebook about seeing skunks, rabbits, and raccoons in our parks now..
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
uziq
Member
+492|3422
in many ways the covid crisis in the UK has shown up neatly the emptiness of the conservatives' rhetoric.

they turned a 'red wall' of labour seats in the North, historically associated with the industrial heartlands of the country. they appealed to disaffected working-class votes on issues like brexit and promised to 'level up' britain - a somewhat novel tack for conservatives to take, actually promising to spend on public infrastructure, the healthcare service, etc, rather than to cut back public spending or (explicitly or implicitly) to privatize.

along comes covid and the northern working-class areas are hardest hit - as you'd expect, and as is the epidemiological pattern all across the world. covid infections track with poverty. and the conservatives' response to this northern epidemic? to show contempt for the constituents and to let them hang over the winter with almost zilch by way of financial support (the city of manchester agreed to an aid package that amounts to £8 per citizen over the winter).

this has created a huge uproar and a feeling of popular resentment towards westminster/the rich south. lots of talk of 'the north' as a political collective in a way that is seldom seen in contemporary discourse. the mayor of manchester has become an overnight folk-hero. looks like those voters will be swinging back in the next election.

Last edited by uziq (2020-10-22 07:11:48)

SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689
Is conservative disinterest in COVID relief just an Anglo-American issue? On the last page we rolled our eyes at the Italians spraying cities with disinfectants but that is a good way of signaling at least some government interest in the public safety. Italy is ran by proto-fascist at this moment isn't it?
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
Larssen
Member
+99|1857
It's a social media phenomenon in most countries but only in the US has it really been incorporated into the belief system of political leadership. Fringe far right parties in the EU that were pro trump are also peddling this nonsense, though none of them are in government.
uziq
Member
+492|3422
i honestly find it unfathomable that a government/executive that leaks PR fluff-pieces like this to the tabloid media:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/ … e-22708865

can also turn around and preach more austerity, more ‘coming together’, less help, refusal to budge on minor budgeting negotiations (the manchester deal fell through over a disputed £5 mill; i mean most senior bureaucrats wouldn’t bend over to pick up that amount of money if it was on the office floor).

something seriously awry and sick with the boris johnson ‘rationalist scientist philosopher’ schtick. cummings’ lot posted a social media advert last week redirecting people from the arts sector to ‘find new work’ and ‘retrain’ during the pandemic (because of course our highly valuable and prestigious arts and cultural sector has been left to swing). the advert literally had an image of a young female ballet dancer and told her to ‘retrain in IT’ or something to that effect: ‘learn to code’. i mean it’s just preposterous.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/5i1zdGwsmPryV3_wJbgsxJKoA33Ub4G-GDgQ0EtiGseA_67EANYobqsK43vTtVcJ6gCa1NzBLq2YKNfFRk39KRKVqsFBkdo_8nIus5ZE7aH1knsUJYiAQlGYABEmACFMBJgrfVaGS94b-PCD7fupiTHDaobg9w

yeah ... or not.

truly we are being governed by a bunch of dilberts at the moment. ideologically that is their stripe. making a big hullabaloo about cummings’ undergraduate degree can’t detract from the highly spurious ‘IQ is the rule’-type rubbish he’s been venting on his blog for the last 5 years. ye shall know them by their blogspotte ...

https://dominiccummings.com/2020/01/02/ … d-weirdos/

Last edited by uziq (2020-10-22 09:05:42)

SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689
People getting education and training to get out of retail is a good thing. It would be helpful for governments to put up funding for it though. If you really want people to get educations to work in fields the nation needs then you need to incentivize and assist people. This is an issue in the U.S. Students are pushed to pay tens of thousands of dollars to get educations in order to be better qualified workers. But it is unfair to ask people to pay that amount of money and time to train for jobs instead of pursuing their genuine interest.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
RTHKI
mmmf mmmf mmmf
+1,736|6707|Oxferd Ohire
I don't trust a tech person who isn't at least 250lbs
https://i.imgur.com/tMvdWFG.png
RTHKI
mmmf mmmf mmmf
+1,736|6707|Oxferd Ohire

SuperJail Warden wrote:

People getting education and training to get out of retail is a good thing.
Seems to be who the online schools aim at.
Ive seen western governors university advertised a bit and talked about in tech forums. Less than 9k a year.
Now is it any good, that's a big debate. Probably ok for smaller companies.
https://i.imgur.com/tMvdWFG.png
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689
I don't believe those online universities are any good. The only good I have heard them being is if you already have a job in an institution or company and need a degree to meet some promotion or raise qualification.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
uziq
Member
+492|3422

SuperJail Warden wrote:

People getting education and training to get out of retail is a good thing. It would be helpful for governments to put up funding for it though. If you really want people to get educations to work in fields the nation needs then you need to incentivize and assist people. This is an issue in the U.S. Students are pushed to pay tens of thousands of dollars to get educations in order to be better qualified workers. But it is unfair to ask people to pay that amount of money and time to train for jobs instead of pursuing their genuine interest.
they're not in retail. and, besides, we need a retail sector. people already are encouraged to go to school and qualify. in fact, many people working in retail are over-qualified already (and they're not all philosophy majors or whatever the dumb american stereotype is).

these are people who are in our ailing arts and culture sector. i'm sorry, but if someone is a professional ballerina, that means they have dedicated their entire lives (since at least age 4/5) to a singular pursuit. it means they are pretty fucking excellent at what they do. a ballerina at the royal ballet company or covent garden is a huge cultural draw, for tourists and for the culture sector generally. they are attractions. telling them to retrain to become a fucking sys-admin because of a pandemic is ridiculous.

it's just the boneheaded messaging of a philistine government who do not give a fuck. the UK doesn't have much weight or power any more, and what influence we do have is overwhelmingly because of our cultural output. we project ourselves and our presence into the world using our music, our film, our fashion, etc. that's a truism for most declining first-world, ex-imperial, etc, countries. for some reason our government do not give a shit.

this is not an expensive industry to keep afloat. governments can find multi-billion dollar packets for their friends' and for private contracting. we can afford to waste billions of taxpayer funds on employing big consultancy companies to fuck-up our test and trace system. we can bailout over-leveraged airlines, hotels, and throw tens of millions of quids at our mates' dodgy business that has only been registered as a going-concern at companies house for 4 months. but ballerinas and fashion designers, with their modest furlough costs, should go swing? iconic cultural venues should close?

but please, tell me some more how we have too many restaurants, shopping malls, etc, and we need to fire-up the car factories of motor city again or whatever the fuck pipedream you're going on about.
RTHKI
mmmf mmmf mmmf
+1,736|6707|Oxferd Ohire
@bigmac
Yea that's the more popular thought but you still have people that will vouch for em. At my last company we hired people that went to ITT Tech so I don't think it's as big of a hurt in a midwest suburb v the coast.

Last edited by RTHKI (2020-10-22 10:01:48)

https://i.imgur.com/tMvdWFG.png
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689

uziq wrote:

SuperJail Warden wrote:

People getting education and training to get out of retail is a good thing. It would be helpful for governments to put up funding for it though. If you really want people to get educations to work in fields the nation needs then you need to incentivize and assist people. This is an issue in the U.S. Students are pushed to pay tens of thousands of dollars to get educations in order to be better qualified workers. But it is unfair to ask people to pay that amount of money and time to train for jobs instead of pursuing their genuine interest.
they're not in retail. and, besides, we need a retail sector. people already are encouraged to go to school and qualify. in fact, many people working in retail are over-qualified already (and they're not all philosophy majors or whatever the dumb american stereotype is).

these are people who are in our ailing arts and culture sector. i'm sorry, but if someone is a professional ballerina, that means they have dedicated their entire lives (since at least age 4/5) to a singular pursuit. it means they are pretty fucking excellent at what they do. a ballerina at the royal ballet company or covent garden is a huge cultural draw, for tourists and for the culture sector generally. they are attractions. telling them to retrain to become a fucking sys-admin because of a pandemic is ridiculous.

it's just the boneheaded messaging of a philistine government who do not give a fuck. the UK doesn't have much weight or power any more, and what influence we do have is overwhelmingly because of our cultural output. we project ourselves and our presence into the world using our music, our film, our fashion, etc. that's a truism for most declining first-world, ex-imperial, etc, countries. for some reason our government do not give a shit.

this is not an expensive industry to keep afloat. governments can find multi-billion dollar packets for their friends' and for private contracting. we can afford to waste billions of taxpayer funds on employing big consultancy companies to fuck-up our test and trace system. we can bailout over-leveraged airlines, hotels, and throw tens of millions of quids at our mates' dodgy business that has only been registered as a going-concern at companies house for 4 months. but ballerinas and fashion designers, with their modest furlough costs, should go swing? iconic cultural venues should close?

but please, tell me some more how we have too many restaurants, shopping malls, etc, and we need to fire-up the car factories of motor city again or whatever the fuck pipedream you're going on about.
I think you misunderstood my post. The Azn girl in the picture you posted is obviously counting clothes at a store. I am okay with supporting ballerinas and whatever the gay sciences thinks up. But if we are going to push people into hard sciences, we need to incentivize it by funding it instead of forcing people to take on debt to study things that make them unhappy in order to get job that may not exist.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689

RTHKI wrote:

@bigmac
Yea that's the more popular thought but you still have people that will vouch for em. At my last company we hired people that went to ITT Tech so I don't think it's as big of a hurt in a midwest suburb v the coast.
ITT tech is a good sign for blue collar work if you are a stranger. Nepotism and someone teaching you a trade is just as good and cheaper though if they can get you a job.

I read a IAMA by someone who was a recruiter for University of Phoenix. He said they throw away applications with people who put that school on their resume. They know their product is bad.

For profit universities prey on people who don't know any better. When I worked at a failed Charter School in Newark some for profit university sent the teachers a lunch platter and came to talk to the seniors about signing up. The for profit university relies on tax payer backed loans so they can sell their product to poor kids. The teachers know better obviously but they left a lunch platter in the teacher's lounge and the school is obviously okay with selling the kid's to for profit universities since the professional contacts are probably helpful when the state shuts down your school or you get tired of being in a classroom.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
uziq
Member
+492|3422

SuperJail Warden wrote:

uziq wrote:

SuperJail Warden wrote:

People getting education and training to get out of retail is a good thing. It would be helpful for governments to put up funding for it though. If you really want people to get educations to work in fields the nation needs then you need to incentivize and assist people. This is an issue in the U.S. Students are pushed to pay tens of thousands of dollars to get educations in order to be better qualified workers. But it is unfair to ask people to pay that amount of money and time to train for jobs instead of pursuing their genuine interest.
they're not in retail. and, besides, we need a retail sector. people already are encouraged to go to school and qualify. in fact, many people working in retail are over-qualified already (and they're not all philosophy majors or whatever the dumb american stereotype is).

these are people who are in our ailing arts and culture sector. i'm sorry, but if someone is a professional ballerina, that means they have dedicated their entire lives (since at least age 4/5) to a singular pursuit. it means they are pretty fucking excellent at what they do. a ballerina at the royal ballet company or covent garden is a huge cultural draw, for tourists and for the culture sector generally. they are attractions. telling them to retrain to become a fucking sys-admin because of a pandemic is ridiculous.

it's just the boneheaded messaging of a philistine government who do not give a fuck. the UK doesn't have much weight or power any more, and what influence we do have is overwhelmingly because of our cultural output. we project ourselves and our presence into the world using our music, our film, our fashion, etc. that's a truism for most declining first-world, ex-imperial, etc, countries. for some reason our government do not give a shit.

this is not an expensive industry to keep afloat. governments can find multi-billion dollar packets for their friends' and for private contracting. we can afford to waste billions of taxpayer funds on employing big consultancy companies to fuck-up our test and trace system. we can bailout over-leveraged airlines, hotels, and throw tens of millions of quids at our mates' dodgy business that has only been registered as a going-concern at companies house for 4 months. but ballerinas and fashion designers, with their modest furlough costs, should go swing? iconic cultural venues should close?

but please, tell me some more how we have too many restaurants, shopping malls, etc, and we need to fire-up the car factories of motor city again or whatever the fuck pipedream you're going on about.
I think you misunderstood my post. The Azn girl in the picture you posted is obviously counting clothes at a store. I am okay with supporting ballerinas and whatever the gay sciences thinks up. But if we are going to push people into hard sciences, we need to incentivize it by funding it instead of forcing people to take on debt to study things that make them unhappy in order to get job that may not exist.
ok, i interpreted that image as her being a fashion designer as it doesn't look like a store so much, and because it's our cultural venues and arts industry that have been systematically excluded from funding support. but i take your point. thank you for clarifying.
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689
Anyway the U.S. hit 75,000 cases yesterday with 800 deaths. Our all time daily high was 75K and a few hundred. Europe is getting hit badly on a per capita and total basis. The good news of this all is that we have gotten better at treating people who become hospitalized. We still could be doing more to increase medical capacity and decrease the exposure potential of people though.

Still the amount the people dying from this with our fancy modern medicine is a bad sign.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
uziq
Member
+492|3422
https://twitter.com/tomkibasi/status/13 … 88576?s=21

the modern face of conservatism right here.

voted to reject funding for the poorest families who face very real unemployment and hunger during this second wave. but also ‘incentivised’ middle-class londoners to ‘eat out to help out’ at fancy restaurants.

oh and did boris mention he’s really struggling to live on £150k/year?
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6741|PNW

Did he? I don't think I'd trust someone to lead a country if they can't self-sustain in the six figure range.
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689
https://i.imgur.com/siipCvE.png
Broke the all time high by 10,000. 2% of 85,000 is 1,700 by the way.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,810|6075|eXtreme to the maX
Meanwhile, in Australia

After a single day of no cases its time to come out of lockdown.
Seems like yesterday the metric was two cycles or four weeks of no cases, but its OK because the Premier is 'following the science'.
Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!
uziq
Member
+492|3422
no politician is following the science to the letter. that’s because policy involves more than just scientific guidance. this has been the established trope since at least month 1 of the pandemic. why are you acting surprised?

i linked a commentary to larssen about two days ago of how this ‘scientific governance guided by science by scientists’ is just a bad fallacy. science doesn’t give a handy playbook for all political decisions.
Larssen
Member
+99|1857
While I never really trusted the tally of covid cases in China, it does seem like the situation is under control

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-54687533

I can't help but think their approach more or less indicates that in order to bring under control a pandemic, the best way is simply to restrict personal freedoms severely for a set period of time whilst testing everyone. Exactly as they're doing. Instead of making business and people suffer for a year and a half, lockdown is only necessary for small amounts of time.

It's exactly what some major research papers did recommend at the start of the pandemic if the goal is to minimise fatalities & economic damage.
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689
Their outbreak in Wuhan was worse than they are willing to admit to. I think they handled everything better though due mainly from the fact that they have an authorisation government and strong sense of community responsibility. Meanwhile America has a culture of "you can't tell me nothing". This was made all the worse by the fact that our government promoted denialism.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,810|6075|eXtreme to the maX

Larssen wrote:

While I never really trusted the tally of covid cases in China, it does seem like the situation is under control

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-54687533

I can't help but think their approach more or less indicates that in order to bring under control a pandemic, the best way is simply to restrict personal freedoms severely for a set period of time whilst testing everyone. Exactly as they're doing. Instead of making business and people suffer for a year and a half, lockdown is only necessary for small amounts of time.

It's exactly what some major research papers did recommend at the start of the pandemic if the goal is to minimise fatalities & economic damage.
LMAO So you're now saying what China did, and the experts were advocating six months ago is what we should have done?

It must be hard only being able to take decisions on unfolding events with the benefit of months and years of hindsight.

The west had ample notice and extensive scientific advice but mostly failed utterly. Who could have predicted that two months of hard lockdown would be better all round than six months and counting of partial lockdown?

Easy to be smug but here we've had 50 straight days of no community transmission. Our only cases are indians in hotel quarantine. I wouldn't be letting them in myself after Victoria's experience.
Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!
uziq
Member
+492|3422
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ … study-says

proportion of people with covid antibodies down from 6% in august to 4.4% now. in other words, more people are susceptible to (re)infection now than in the recess after the first peak.

remember when jay said that most of america had probably had it already and it would just fade away? wouldn’t surprise me if he’s still walking around now saying ‘don’t worry, i’ve already had it and i’ve got the antibodies’.

Last edited by uziq (2020-10-27 02:00:42)

unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6741|PNW

This thread is probably a contributor to jay having gone the way of burnzz. I miss having him around to make fun of me for things like normal hygiene and wanting my parents to survive the pandemic.

I imagine neighbors at BBQs he hosts are more at risk of contracting e. coli than covid-19. "It's just a little salmonella, way overblown!"

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