red321

But it's ok...they sacrificed the olds to keep their economy humming along
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-19/sweden-in-very-deep-economic-crisis-despite-soft-lockdown
 

It's not a fascination as much as a requirement for them. Extreme gerrymandering, attempting to restrict voting rights and access to the ballot box, changing what elected officials (Democrats) can do after they win an election (see NC and Wisconsin governors)...hell, the electoral college. It's not a bug, it's a feature.

It's not a fascination as much as a requirement for them. Extreme gerrymandering, attempting to restrict voting rights and access to the ballot box, changing what elected officials (Democrats) can do after they win an election (see NC and Wisconsin governors)...hell, the electoral college. It's not a bug, it's a feature.

That's up there with Georgia who conveniently re-ordered the calendar so it appeared cases were trending down
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/18/only-america-is-sunday-day-after-thursday/
April 30 was followed by May 4; May 5 was followed by May 2, which was followed by May 7 — which in turn was followed by April 26. The dates had been re-sorted to create the illusion of a decline. The five counties were likewise re-sorted on each day to enhance the illusion.
 
Using the new Georgia calendar

Using a standard calendar

 
The also created a new logarithmic scale apparently

 
 
 
 

Bill Gates

My favorite post in here is the one semi celebrating 99% of a large crowd not wearing masks.  Very cool.  All heroic patriots. 

Fox News to remain closed while hosts push US to reopen - Business Insider
https://www.businessinsider.com/fox-news-closed-while-on-air-talent-push-reopen-2020-5

yep...when we saw the original deposit we told her immediately she could have fun with $1000, but they would figure it out eventually so don't spend the rest.

For the most part I don't disagree, though I don't think it's as simple as just saying $100 pill delivery vehicles when there's a host of things that go into delivering a pill to a patient in the hospital. There is certainly a whole helluva lot of grift and excessive overhead built into the system.
Just wanted to point out some of that conspiracy whack is just that.
 

Medical coding is bit of a black blox at times, and yes certain providers can be fairly generous to themselves (hence the reason you should double check bills and if you have to pay cash, always negotiate)...but keep in mind....Medicare fraud is a big fucking deal (unless of course you are a Senator from Florida). The fines can range from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars, per instance and this is at the individual level. Companies that engaged in medicare fraud and are caught by CMS risk losing the ability to get medicare reimbursements in the future - which again is a huge fucking deal for a lot of providers. Companies that deal with CMS and medicare are required to give out annual training provided by CMS and usually additional content is added by the company. This is done at an individual level, so each person has to take the training course and sign acknowledgement they received the training and understand that they, personally, can be held liable. Information is regularly reviewed and audited. This is also no different than other conditions like diabetes (and a host of others).
There's a lot of gray area for providers in coding, but based on the sensitivity and eyeballs that are all over this, not too many people are going to fuck around with this one. And if I'm an individual doing the hospital coding, I'll be damned if I'm going to personally risk huge fines so some exec and crow about an additional $15k.
You can also look at the excess mortality numbers for each region and country. If anything these numbers are being undercounted.

....what?
I will believe a scientist any day over some random person on the internet.
I shouldn't even need to say that that but here we are.

Well apparently all the scientists are because they're still investigating its origins. Hopefully they start listening to people on the internet.

No I'm actually at work. I'm not planning on listening to an hour and a half of Elon Musk talking to Joe Rogan to "educate myself" with information neither of them are an expert on. Neil Degrasse Tyson is smart as hell, but I wouldn't give 10 fucks what he has to say about what the country should/shouldn't do regarding the Coronavirus.
Maybe he has some good points, but just from seeing his actions on Twitter lately I'm guessing they're few and far between.
Wake me up when Fauci is on Joe Rogan.

Could very well be that those restaurants that are landlocked are the one's that will fold.  Curbside/family meals could be the way to go.  Oddly, family meals are the staple of Chinese restaurants.  (BTW, I think it's hilarious when you get people in a chinese restaurant ordering as if it's individual plates they are ordering.  And if you are one of those that go to a chinese restaurant and each member of the party orders a plate for themselves, you are doing it wrong.  And yes, an ex's family was one of those such families.  I was so confused that evening.)

My concern with what we are doing now is, it's already outlined how to approach this. Look at countries like Germany, New Zealand, and  South Korea. They are slowly starting to re-open society (after actually doing the initial hard work)...but they have a plan for it based around ensuring cases are going down, extensive testing, contract tracing, and quarantine facilities (amongst other things). Each stage has steps outlined...including knowing what to do if you start to see a spike in cases or outbreaks in certain areas. 
The US has not done this on a national level, in fact the administration stopped the CDC from releasing reopening plans and has taken the additional step of telling the CDC to make the plans less specific. Ther current national plan seems to be trying to convince everyone they are "warriors" and accept they might be a casualty of war so that we can try and prop the economy back up for the orange buffoon to run for re-election on with the added bonus of blaming local governments for not doing enough if they reopened (as demanded) too soon and without the proper plans in place.. That doesn't make us warriors...it makes us cannon fodder. Hell, we can't even get people to wear masks in public without some douchebags thinking it's their konstitusheenell write to try and infect other people and pulling out a gun.
The virus isn't something that can be bargained with. It is what it is. 
 
 

My concern with what we are doing now is, it's already outlined how to approach this. Look at countries like Germany, New Zealand, and  South Korea. They are slowly starting to re-open society (after actually doing the initial hard work)...but they have a plan for it based around ensuring cases are going down, extensive testing, contract tracing, and quarantine facilities (amongst other things). Each stage has steps outlined...including knowing what to do if you start to see a spike in cases or outbreaks in certain areas. 
The US has not done this on a national level, in fact the administration stopped the CDC from releasing reopening plans and has taken the additional step of telling the CDC to make the plans less specific. Ther current national plan seems to be trying to convince everyone they are "warriors" and accept they might be a casualty of war so that we can try and prop the economy back up for the orange buffoon to run for re-election on with the added bonus of blaming local governments for not doing enough if they reopened (as demanded) too soon and without the proper plans in place.. That doesn't make us warriors...it makes us cannon fodder. Hell, we can't even get people to wear masks in public without some douchebags thinking it's their konstitusheenell write to try and infect other people and pulling out a gun.
The virus isn't something that can be bargained with. It is what it is. 
 
 

I agree...we should have had a group dedicated to pandemics, and run simulations and shit...if only....

because people are going to flock to a crowded restaurant where you are sitting ass to elbows to the table next to you? And if the person next to you sneezes or coughs..what then?
It's not just government saying go ahead and open back up, how restaurants operate are going to have to change for them to survive.

I buy a MAGA hat.

If you are in that area go to Zait and Zataar. Amazing chicken shwarma and hummus and a lot easier to deal with than Zankou chicken. It's on Brookhurst near Orange (in the same parking lot as Starbucks. The owner of Zait and Zataar also opened a bakery a few doors down. His brother is the baker.

it would actually explain a lot

Guys...wearing a mask in public is less about helping yourself, and more to help prevent you from spreading the virus to others - especially those who don't have the option to lock themselves away for months.
This isn't a freedom issue, it really is about being a member of society.
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/04/dont-wear-mask-yourself/610336/
Article goes into a more detail, talks about why medical providers are at more risk and need n95 masks. But really drives into...I'm wearing a mask for you, you are wearing a mask for me
 
The good news is that preventing transmission to others through egress is relatively easy. It’s like stopping gushing water from a hose right at the source, by turning off the faucet, compared with the difficulty of trying to catch all the drops of water after we’ve pointed the hose up and they’ve flown everywhere. Research shows that even a cotton mask dramatically reduces the number of virus particles emitted from our mouths—by as much as 99 percent. This reduction provides two huge benefits. Fewer virus particles mean that people have a better chance of avoiding infection, and if they are infected, the lower viral-exposure load may give them a better chance of contracting only a mild illness.
COVID-19 has been hard to control partly because people can infect others before they themselves display any symptoms—and even if they never develop any illness. Three recent studies show that nearly half of patients are infected by people who aren’t coughing or sneezing yet. Many people have no awareness of the risk they pose to others, because they don’t feel sick themselves, and many may never become overtly ill.
Think of the coronavirus pandemic as a fire ravaging our cities and towns that is spread by infected people breathing out invisible embers every time they speak, cough, or sneeze. Sneezing is the most dangerous—it spreads embers farthest—coughing second, and speaking least, though it still can spread the embers. These invisible sparks cause others to catch fire and in turn breathe out embers until we truly catch fire—and get sick. That’s when we call in the firefighters—our medical workers. The people who run into these raging blazes to put them out need special heat-resistant suits and gloves, helmets, and oxygen tanks so they can keep breathing in the fire—all that PPE, with proper fit too.
If we could just keep our embers from being sent out every time we spoke or coughed, many fewer people would catch fire. Masks help us do that. And because we don’t know for sure who’s sick, the only solution is for everyone to wear masks. This eventually benefits the wearer because fewer fires mean we’re all less likely to be burned. My mask protects you; your masks protect me. Plus, our firefighters would no longer be overwhelmed, and we could more easily go back to work and the rest of our public lives.

I'm gonna get super (reasonably) cynical here:
this was the intent all along.

Guys...wearing a mask in public is less about helping yourself, and more to help prevent you from spreading the virus to others - especially those who don't have the option to lock themselves away for months.
This isn't a freedom issue, it really is about being a member of society.
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/04/dont-wear-mask-yourself/610336/
Article goes into a more detail, talks about why medical providers are at more risk and need n95 masks. But really drives into...I'm wearing a mask for you, you are wearing a mask for me
 
The good news is that preventing transmission to others through egress is relatively easy. It’s like stopping gushing water from a hose right at the source, by turning off the faucet, compared with the difficulty of trying to catch all the drops of water after we’ve pointed the hose up and they’ve flown everywhere. Research shows that even a cotton mask dramatically reduces the number of virus particles emitted from our mouths—by as much as 99 percent. This reduction provides two huge benefits. Fewer virus particles mean that people have a better chance of avoiding infection, and if they are infected, the lower viral-exposure load may give them a better chance of contracting only a mild illness.
COVID-19 has been hard to control partly because people can infect others before they themselves display any symptoms—and even if they never develop any illness. Three recent studies show that nearly half of patients are infected by people who aren’t coughing or sneezing yet. Many people have no awareness of the risk they pose to others, because they don’t feel sick themselves, and many may never become overtly ill.
Think of the coronavirus pandemic as a fire ravaging our cities and towns that is spread by infected people breathing out invisible embers every time they speak, cough, or sneeze. Sneezing is the most dangerous—it spreads embers farthest—coughing second, and speaking least, though it still can spread the embers. These invisible sparks cause others to catch fire and in turn breathe out embers until we truly catch fire—and get sick. That’s when we call in the firefighters—our medical workers. The people who run into these raging blazes to put them out need special heat-resistant suits and gloves, helmets, and oxygen tanks so they can keep breathing in the fire—all that PPE, with proper fit too.
If we could just keep our embers from being sent out every time we spoke or coughed, many fewer people would catch fire. Masks help us do that. And because we don’t know for sure who’s sick, the only solution is for everyone to wear masks. This eventually benefits the wearer because fewer fires mean we’re all less likely to be burned. My mask protects you; your masks protect me. Plus, our firefighters would no longer be overwhelmed, and we could more easily go back to work and the rest of our public lives.

Fwds it's worth, that's just a picture.