Covid-19 discussion thread

[Pamplemousse]

As far as the Fail are concerned, it makes a radical change from the typical 'bring back the birch' brigade who usually post such very radical comments on there, but for that young person on there to blatantly admit to being invincible I agree is bang out of order and smacks of self-righteousness, though, of course, it would be better if the inevitable 'youth of today'-bashing is done in another thread!!

Ah, but have you considered Poe's Law?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law

Because I think that's what's going on there.

[AntsyVee]

Well, here is the data they released for my county today. Doesn't look good, folks...

[Lencoboy]

I can understand your worry Fishman - not only at what your daughter might come up against out there but also at what she might bring home with her. My parents are octogenarians and I haven't been able to see them for some time (I'm in London and they are 100 miles away) - and I'm concerned about inadvertently bringing up something nasty from London. Have been keeping away from trouble for weeks now and limiting outside activity to a daily walk (when the streets are quiet) and getting most of my shopping online to avoid large supermarkets.

Unfortunately the younger generation are not that cautious and don't seem to appreciate that they can pass on infections without necessarily succumbing themselves to illness. Hope as you say she is being careful.

Liked Pulisa's suggestion about offering the more wayward youthful 'invincibles' financial incentive to get test vaccinated. That should concentrate their minds.....

On the other hand, both me and my dad have also noticed several older people (60+) blatantly disregarding the CV rules, by not social distancing nor wearing face masks in indoor public places, but the media obviously won't be interested in them as they almost always seem to revel in berating the younger generation and pushing the usual 'youth of today have no respect' agenda, which is very much like the 'man bites dog' phenomenon.

Not in any way excusing the actions of younger people, but they almost always seem to get it in the neck over nearly everything whilst older people often seem to get off scot-free whenever they break rules.

Smacks of double standards IMO.

[Pamplemousse]

Extracted from the Wiki on Poe’s law: “…If you submit a satiric item without this symbol [a ], no matter how obvious the satire is to you, do not be surprised if people take it seriously.” Ye gods and little fishes! This has become the equivalent of internet idiot boards – ‘Clap now’ – or TV canned laughter to ‘help’ the viewers know when something is meant to be seen as funny.

The trouble is, there are people who genuinely cannot read 'between the lines' - the loss of seeing a facial expression can do that. This is why we have emoticons/Emoji now. Back in the days of Usenet I got 'flamed' badly (I think they call it 'dog-piling' now) because someone didn't understand the irony content of my post.

[Pamplemousse]

Mr Mousse, is that their problem or the writer’s?

In my opinion, it's usually the former.

Regarding the face mask thing though, I'd hope people would pick up from the eyes and brow expression.

[Lencoboy]

Phew, just 670 confirmed cases today, a fairly significant drop from yesterday's 938, which was the highest daily count for about 5 weeks, albeit still managing to remain below 1k.

Today's death count has been delayed, which is reputed to be due to issues concerning possible overcounting.

It is also speculated that the even the daily count of confirmed cases could now also be problematic, again due to possible overcounting, of previously unrecorded/under-recorded cases dating back as early as February-March, or maybe even December-January.

Kind of suggests the situation might actually have been much worse in this country during the earlier stages of the pandemic than was realised at the time.

[Pamplemousse]

Unfortunately with this panoply of psychopaths we call our government, all these data changes say to me is "how can we hide how bad this is really?". It's rather like the perpetual acrobatics seen in the US by the idiot Trump.

The new UK .gov dashboard seems to have disappeared along with the old one now but there is one very useful thing in the new dashboard - a listing of cases by 'Middle Layer Super Output Areas' per week. It is reassuring to note for example that in my administrative area there were no new cases - the three cases in the week concerned were all in the larger city further north.

[AntsyVee]

Mr Mousse, is that their problem or the writer’s? I was taught by my English master that if I have to explain the irony, sarcasm or satire (‘the joke’) then there’s no point to using it.

!Irony & Sarcasm Warning!

Would those be the same facial expressions which cannot be seen through a face mask?

I think it's a sign of the times, Pain. You know me. I'm rarely serious, crack jokes all the time, flirt shamelessly and talk to everyone. But I still put the "" on everything cause unless I do, someone will think I'm not joking. I had someone PM me and ask if my re-education camps were a for-real thing.

[pulisa]

Course they are..and you have a waiting list.... Just an illustration of the suggestible powers of the internet though.

[AntsyVee]

Course they are..and you have a waiting list.... Just an illustration of the suggestible powers of the internet though.

I do have a waiting list! The children just won't know they're enrolled in my classes until Friday! Muahahahaha!!!