Octopus Overlords

Posted: **Wed Apr 29, 2020 3:16 pm**

malchior wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 2:38 pm
RunningMn9 wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 2:18 pm
Smoove_B wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 1:56 pmUnlike RM9, I still don't know a single person that has the disease.
This is shocking to me.
Same here. I know people all over the place in NJ and even outside NJ who got the disease. I've known 1 who died and 1 who I'm not sure will make it. He has been on a vent since the end of the 3rd week of March aside from a few days off it in the middle. Also, my town has about 2% of the population with known positive cases and about 20 deaths.

I don't know anyone with it either. There is apparently someone in my office who has it, though I don't know who, just the work group that they're in. Other than that...I know from Facebook that there's at least one person in my neighborhood with it (presumably more), but I don't know who exactly.

So like...it's around, but still hasn't touched me personally yet.

Posted: **Wed Apr 29, 2020 3:17 pm**

Zaxxon wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 2:55 pm
Smoove_B wrote:
raydude wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 2:10 pmI'm going to go with no on Disney World. They are a private company and there is no way anyone can say the Mouse House is essential services. And since this is Disney they know the public relations catastrophe that will happen if they open and families die after visiting.
Interestingly though (because money drives all decision making now), it looks like they might be working behind the scenes to figure out what is possible. Some might say it's a whole new world - A new fantastic point of view (from behind a mask).
We're scheduled to go in October, and I just really can't see it happening. Even were they to be open, it'd be under some form of distancing restrictions. And that would kill both the magic and any desire I have to pay Disney rates...

Yeah there's no way that we go and it's totally normal. But obviously Disney has a lot of resources, and I'm assuming that they're spending a lot of time, focus, and money on figuring out how to operate reasonably safely under some level of coronavirus, so depends a lot on how successful they are in that.

Posted: **Wed Apr 29, 2020 3:21 pm**

Zaxxon wrote:We're scheduled to go in October, and I just really can't see it happening. Even were they to be open, it'd be under some form of distancing restrictions. And that would kill both the magic and any desire I have to pay Disney rates...

We had a trip planned to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando for late September, and I'm assuming that's off the table for the same reasons. Even if they somehow open, do I want to spend Universal prices for an experience which will likely be burdened with multiple levels of social distancing protections, PPE, temperature checks, reduced capacities, longer ride cycles while attendants wipe everything down, etc?

At this point I'd rather just save the money and try again next year.

Posted: **Wed Apr 29, 2020 3:26 pm**

Yep, same.

Posted: **Wed Apr 29, 2020 3:29 pm**

El Guapo wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 3:16 pm So like...it's around, but still hasn't touched me personally yet.

One of my wife's patients tested positive and now she's getting a whopping $5 hour more "combat pay." She also has a coworker who tested positive. I'm not aware of anyone I personally know that has it, but Monday it was announced that the office I spent T-Th working at will be closed for general work indefinitely after an unidentified person who was in on Friday tested positive. Since i don't know who that person was, I can't say whether I had close contact with them, but I only personally know a couple of people who have routinely been coming to the office (most of the 200 normally working there are WFH...well, I guess about all of them now).

Posted: **Wed Apr 29, 2020 3:46 pm**

News shows some pro soccer player that is still testing positive after 6 weeks.

Posted: **Wed Apr 29, 2020 3:51 pm**

Please tell me this isn't real. Please?

Posted: **Wed Apr 29, 2020 3:56 pm**

Smoove_B wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 3:51 pm Please tell me this isn't real. Please?

It's "real" in the sense that it's a real product. It's not an official item.

https://www.whitehousegiftshop.com/Default.asp is just an online store with an official sounding name.

Posted: **Wed Apr 29, 2020 3:59 pm**

Huh. I had thought there was a connection - and there kinda was:

The White House Gift Shop is the only entity of its kind in White House history originating from a permanent memorandum by President Harry S. Truman to members of the U.S. Secret Service. The White House Gift Shop® was granted trademark registration protections by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In November of 1950, by order of President Harry S. Truman with operational oversight by then Chief of Secret Service, James J. Rowley and U.S. Army General Harry Vaughan, Aide to President Truman, and Secret Service members, the White House Flower Fund became the White House Security Fund then the U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division Fund which soon, thereafter, became the White House Gift Shop. Back then, the White House Gift Shop was located in the basement of the White House and later relocated to the Executive Office Building in an area known as the old War Department. On January 1, 1998, the White House Gift Shop opened this online store for your accessibility and convenience.

But then:

The White House Gift Shop is a private, for-profit company based in Lancaster Country, Pennsylvania. It has no connection to the White House, the Secret Service or any part of the US government.

Carry on!

Posted: **Wed Apr 29, 2020 4:00 pm**

For example:

Posted: **Wed Apr 29, 2020 4:01 pm**

El Guapo wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 3:16 pm
So like...it's around, but still hasn't touched me personally yet.

No one in my immediate circle has it, but at least two of my 50 students tell me that someone in their family has had it, with at least one death. My wife is about the same with her students.

According to Facebook, some friends of (actual) friends have been hospitalized.

Edit: Just learned of another student-family case in the minute since posting the above.

Posted: **Wed Apr 29, 2020 4:04 pm**

One of my close friends had it, but apparently recovered and came out of quarantine on Saturday. His wife and daughter did not have any symptoms. His dad has it and my friend has been sparing with his updates. Last I knew he had pneumonia but was still well enough to be at home.

Posted: **Wed Apr 29, 2020 4:09 pm**

LawBeefaroni wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 4:00 pm

Can I say that I just love how this graph, despite putting an upward arrow at the end, doesn't show a consistent upward trajectory? It's just bouncing up and down around a more or less flat line.

Posted: **Wed Apr 29, 2020 4:12 pm**

Isgrimnur wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 2:22 pmI know of people within two miles of me that have it, but I do not know anyone that has it.

I just meant that given the scale of the outbreak in the NY Metro area, I'm surprised to that he wouldn't know anyone. I suspect that maybe he doesn't know that he knows (for instance, people that we went to high school with have gone through the grinder and recovered). But in terms of active people I know, the deaths are all one degree of separation away (parents of work friends), plus a co-worker (only met a couple of times though). There have been some folks in my wife's extended family that spent time in the ICU, but they thankfully recovered.

Posted: **Wed Apr 29, 2020 4:16 pm**

El Guapo wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 4:09 pm
LawBeefaroni wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 4:00 pm

Can I say that I just love how this graph, despite putting an upward arrow at the end, doesn't show a consistent upward trajectory? It's just bouncing up and down around a more or less flat line.

"Historic win" is a lie by any measure, but what I really love is the literal impossibility of "groundbreaking vision."

Posted: **Wed Apr 29, 2020 4:18 pm**

Smoove_B wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 1:36 pm There is no quick solution; there is no magic bullet. Shutting down was a sprint; Now we're in for the marathon.

Worldwide, we are sciencing this like nothing I've ever seen before. There are currently 70 vaccine candidates and >100 drugs in various stages of development and testing and our knowledge of the virus is growing rapidly. While you obviously can't plan a breakthrough, the odds are decent enough that I'll be surprised if we don't have an effective treatment, or at least an emergency intervention, by fall.

Posted: **Wed Apr 29, 2020 4:18 pm**

RunningMn9 wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 4:12 pm
Isgrimnur wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 2:22 pmI know of people within two miles of me that have it, but I do not know anyone that has it.
I just meant that given the scale of the outbreak in the NY Metro area, I'm surprised to that he wouldn't know anyone. I suspect that maybe he doesn't know that he knows (for instance, people that we went to high school with have gone through the grinder and recovered). But in terms of active people I know, the deaths are all one degree of separation away (parents of work friends), plus a co-worker (only met a couple of times though). There have been some folks in my wife's extended family that spent time in the ICU, but they thankfully recovered.

That's true - I know the one woman we went to high school with. I guess if you count "knowing" as "haven't spoken to or seen for 28 years".

I genuinely don't have anyone that I speak to or associate with that has the virus. It likely is odd, or maybe I just don't have lots of associates because I'm secretly a serial killer.

Posted: **Wed Apr 29, 2020 4:23 pm**

Smoove_B wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 4:18 pm
RunningMn9 wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 4:12 pm
Isgrimnur wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 2:22 pmI know of people within two miles of me that have it, but I do not know anyone that has it.
I just meant that given the scale of the outbreak in the NY Metro area, I'm surprised to that he wouldn't know anyone. I suspect that maybe he doesn't know that he knows (for instance, people that we went to high school with have gone through the grinder and recovered). But in terms of active people I know, the deaths are all one degree of separation away (parents of work friends), plus a co-worker (only met a couple of times though). There have been some folks in my wife's extended family that spent time in the ICU, but they thankfully recovered.
That's true - I know the one woman we went to high school with. I guess if you count "knowing" as "haven't spoken to or seen for 28 years".

I genuinely don't have anyone that I speak to or associate with that has the virus. It likely is odd, or maybe I just don't have lots of associates because I'm secretly a serial killer.

I'm pretty sure that's because this is all a liberal hoax designed to take down our beloved President.

Posted: **Wed Apr 29, 2020 5:03 pm**

My aunt came home yesterday after spending last weekend in the hospital with it. Uncle is still there, he was put on a ventilator on Monday afternoon.

Posted: **Wed Apr 29, 2020 5:26 pm**

Skinypupy wrote:My aunt came home yesterday after spending last weekend in the hospital with it. Uncle is still there, he was put on a ventilator on Monday afternoon.

Posted: **Wed Apr 29, 2020 8:00 pm**

Today saw a jump in recorded deaths again - based on different counts we are looking at 2.4 - 2.5K today again. I dug in a little and part of it was that PA reconciled records from county and local coroners which delayed counting deaths by 'days or weeks'. Still today is looking like another maximum day for recording deaths. Though as the PA numbers indicate you sometimes have to dig in to figure out what real-time looks like and it generally is a little lower than reported on the 'max' days.

Cases still show a generally linear increase. We've successfully flattened the curve for now so we'll see what happens over the next few weeks.

Posted: **Wed Apr 29, 2020 9:24 pm**

Two friends who tested positive, spent time in the hospital, have been discharged and through self quarantine.

One of them is older even by OO standards. I'm guessing 75 or so. We buried his wife last year and glad that we don't have to bury him.

The other one is 60ish and while he carries some weight, he's frankly a bit of a dynamo. He's very clear that he feared for his life in the hospital and is not interested in taking chances.

I spent some time with him shortly before his diagnosis. He wasn't feeling well and was probably contagious at the time. I don't know if I got it from him and just didn't have bad symptoms or if I came away clean.

Several older relatives of friends have gone down. My folks passed some time ago. At their end, neither of my parents could use a phone. It would be a bad time to have to isolate away from them and not be able to communicate.

Posted: **Wed Apr 29, 2020 9:29 pm**

Saw on tv where the first or one of the first in New York to have it is finally leaving the hospital after 58 days. geez.

Posted: **Wed Apr 29, 2020 9:39 pm**

I don't know anybody who's had it, but I don't know very many people so that's unsurprising.

Two factinos that I haven't seen mentioned: Elizabeth Warren's eldest brother died of covid last week; and yesterday the official national death toll surpassed Vietnam War deaths.

Posted: **Wed Apr 29, 2020 9:56 pm**

Kraken wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 9:39 pm yesterday the official national death toll surpassed Vietnam War deaths.

Peace with honor. Bone spurs FTW.

Posted: **Wed Apr 29, 2020 10:48 pm**

Trying to find out what temperatures kill the virus. Not just the High but the low. Will a frozen fruit for my smoothie be lethal? Do not find on CDC.

Also there seems to be bad info on masks going around. If you see a person with a mask that has a plastic part on front they are only protecting them selves from you. They are not protecting you from them.

Posted: **Wed Apr 29, 2020 10:59 pm**

As long as you’re not inhaling the smoothie, you should be fine.

Posted: **Wed Apr 29, 2020 11:08 pm**

Even with my brother living in northern NJ and my sister in PA I don't have any direct connections to anyone who has it. The only connections are the girlfriend of a friend's son, some people we know only online, and so forth. No one in the immediate families of my 70 students. No one that I work with.

Of course that is only known cases. Who knows I might even have had it in a mild form but none of these people have had symptoms or tested positive.

Posted: **Wed Apr 29, 2020 11:37 pm**

The closest I've come is that the uncle of on my my D&D players died from it last week.

Posted: **Thu Apr 30, 2020 12:21 am**

My boss was ill with presumed to be COVID had a fever for 2-3 weeks, tired. Not so bad she didn't log in most every day (we've been work from home since a week and 1/2 or so ahead of MI stay at home orders). Her kid got it, doc said kid getting it from her would likely be less severe (which seems to be true). Boss is fever free for 3rd day now (kid's 1st day fever free).

No one else I know and no deaths.

Posted: **Thu Apr 30, 2020 2:25 am**

There's a link on Boing Boing to research public in Scientific American: We STILL don't know exactly how COVID-19 is killing us.

The most common is probably lung function fails, but doctors are discovering kidney failures and strokes in COVID-19 victims. New York, one of the COVID-19 ground-zeros, is calling for more dialysis machines and personnel. And people who had no history of strokes and in their 30's and 40's are getting them. Some epidemiologists are wondering if some of the COVID-19 home deaths were actually caused by strokes. And the really crazy part... one surgeon using a microtool to remove a clot in a victim's brain watched as NEW bleeds formed around where he just unblocked. And there are other symptoms all over the body.

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/28/coron ... -path.html

Posted: **Thu Apr 30, 2020 6:45 am**

Why should we care what either of these two guys think about this?

https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1255806110902124544

Clash of tech sociopaths: Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg offered dueling views on lockdown measures designed to slow the spread of the coronavirus, with Facebook’s Zuckerberg endorsing the measures while Tesla’s Musk condemned them as anti-democratic

Posted: **Thu Apr 30, 2020 6:47 am**

malchior wrote: Thu Apr 30, 2020 6:45 am Why should we care what either of these two guys think about this?
Clash of tech sociopaths: Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg offered dueling views on lockdown measures designed to slow the spread of the coronavirus, with Facebook’s Zuckerberg endorsing the measures while Tesla’s Musk condemned them as anti-democratic

One wants you to stay home and stay online. The other wants you to go out and buy cars.

Posted: **Thu Apr 30, 2020 7:27 am**

malchior wrote: Thu Apr 30, 2020 6:45 am Why should we care what either of these two guys think about this?

The reason I care about what Gates thinks is because he's been working on the prevention of disease spread for well over a decade and put billions of dollars where is his mouth is.

Also I don't know enough people to know anyone to have the Rona. But there's plenty of one degree of separation where not only do I know people who know people who have had it, I know too many people who have had relatives or close friends die and my local municipality has 639 confirmed active cases and 53 deaths out of about 81,000 people.

Posted: **Thu Apr 30, 2020 8:20 am**

Paingod wrote: Thu Apr 30, 2020 6:47 am
malchior wrote: Thu Apr 30, 2020 6:45 am Why should we care what either of these two guys think about this?
Clash of tech sociopaths: Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg offered dueling views on lockdown measures designed to slow the spread of the coronavirus, with Facebook’s Zuckerberg endorsing the measures while Tesla’s Musk condemned them as anti-democratic

One wants you to stay home and stay online. The other wants you to go out and buy cars.

I believe that Musk is more concerned about keeping his factories running. He seems to be more worried about losing suppliers than gaining customers.

Tesla warns on shutdown as Musk calls for end to lockdown

Demand for Tesla's electric cars held up in the first three months of the year, despite upheavals caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Quarterly revenues jumped 30% from last year to $5.9bn (£4.7bn), allowing the firm to turn a small profit of $16m.

It is the third quarterly profit in a row for the company, marking a turnaround after years of losses.

But Tesla said forced shutdowns and limits on deliveries had clouded its forecast for coming months.

"Frankly I would call it forcibly imprisoning people in their homes against all their constitutional rights...that's my opinion," Tesla boss Elon Musk, who has been opposed to the lockdown measures, told investors in an earnings call on Wednesday.

"It will cause great harm, not just to Tesla but to many firms. While Tesla will weather the storm, there are many small companies that will not.

"And all of people's - everything they've worked for their whole lives has been destroyed in real time.

"We're going to have, and have many suppliers that are on super hard times, especially the small ones, and it's causing a lot of strife to a lot of people."

He added that Tesla was "a bit worried about not being able to resume production in the Bay area", and said this should be considered "a key risk" because the firm only has two car factories - one in Shanghai and one in Fremont, California.

Posted: **Thu Apr 30, 2020 8:48 am**

Max Peck wrote: Thu Apr 30, 2020 8:20 am I believe that Musk is more concerned about keeping his factories running. He seems to be more worried about losing suppliers than gaining customers.

The concern is real but there also needs to be a plan. Even in a furlough week I have to check my email every day to see what's up starting up production everywhere and whether or not we can comply. Having to check in every day is a conflict of interest with my asking for unemployment and there is no way to report that on the application. We are still on stay at home by state mandate next week but ship schedules/releases/call offs/DELFORs/830s/Jits/862s (whatever the specific customer calls them) are already going out. I think the bulk of office workers are still going to be WFH whenever possible for now (with draconian building entry and health care conscious mandates), but the plants? You can't exactly manufacture from home. The ride is about to get crazy stressful, I think.

Posted: **Thu Apr 30, 2020 8:58 am**

LordMortis wrote: Thu Apr 30, 2020 8:48 am Even in a furlough week I have to check my email every day to see what's up starting up production everywhere and whether or not we can comply. Having to check in every day is a conflict of interest with my asking for unemployment and there is no way to report that on the application.

If you are claiming unemployment, be careful with that. It might be different in every state, but in mine that is a huge no-no. If you are making a claim, you can not work.

Posted: **Thu Apr 30, 2020 9:17 am**

stessier wrote: Thu Apr 30, 2020 8:58 am
LordMortis wrote: Thu Apr 30, 2020 8:48 am Even in a furlough week I have to check my email every day to see what's up starting up production everywhere and whether or not we can comply. Having to check in every day is a conflict of interest with my asking for unemployment and there is no way to report that on the application.
If you are claiming unemployment, be careful with that. It might be different in every state, but in mine that is a huge no-no. If you are making a claim, you can not work.

Exactly. I knew jack shit about furloughs at the end of March. Work warned me about doing anything work related on furlough weeks which I did not understand until I went home on furlough and started reading what one was. BUT... Work still need to communicate plans for returning to work. It's a terrible catch 22, as is much of the verbiage on the unemployment claims, especially as reworked to account for COVID 19, where so many are filing you literally can't talk to a person and ask questions. When this is all said and done, I think business continuity plans are going to be taken a whole lot more seriously. "No one saw this coming" (except for apparently IT guys who die by the motto it's not if, it's when) is not going to fly any more I suspect. /wonders if budgets for business continuity finally increase...

Posted: **Thu Apr 30, 2020 10:28 am**

On the plus side, with 30 million now unemployed, they aren't going to be fact-checking your application in any detail.

Posted: **Thu Apr 30, 2020 10:34 am**

Kraken wrote: Thu Apr 30, 2020 10:28 am On the plus side, with 30 million now unemployed, they aren't going to be fact-checking your application in any detail.

This is what I'm thinking. Also, perhaps they could communicate official return to work to a personal email. They are essentially asking LM to work while they aren't paying him instead of doing their job while they are still employed.

Octopus Overlords

Corona Virus: It's a Marathon, Not a Sprint

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