NON_POLITICAL China Coronavirus THREAD

[Muse]

well obviously he has more than 2 people if hes worried about toys and easter eggs. 150$ a week OK, but arnt we suppose to be shopping for multiple weeks is my point. i guess you proved it. i have a family of 6 and we eat tbones / salmon / shrimp / crab / tri tip / ground turkey / loads of eggs and milk etc etc. no idea how much we spend per week because we buy so much at once. i just wish i owned a cow so i didnt need to go buy 5 gallons of milk at a time.

I haven't bought jug or carton milk since the 20th century. I buy nonfat dry milk powder online exclusively. I have enough right now to make over 120 quarts reconstituted. Got into the habit when I didn't have a car. NFDM powder keeps really well.

BTW, cows have their problems. You have to feed them, they crap a ton, you need strong hands or a milking machine, you need a veterinarian to keep them healthy.

I spend less than $150/week for 3 people.

I kept score for 2 or more years around 10 years ago. I ate for around $4/day. That entailed NOT eating out, shopping for good prices, buying in bulk when possible. I'm not that frugal eating these days, but still not profligate. And, of course, inflation.

 

[JEDI]

Late-night comedy: “Easter doesn’t feel at all exciting this year, probably because I’ve spent the last three weeks driving around looking for eggs already,” Jimmy Kimmel said.
😛

 

[highland145]

Lots of unsolicited newsletters & subscriptions will be sent there!

You mean I could actually get more junk mail? 😱

 

[pmv]

Have to say this ticks every box on a certain stereotype of the vulgar rich. Men 40-50, women early 20s, private jet, helicopters, working in 'finance and property' (aka the rentier class who don't actually produce anything), tried to use their 'contacts' to get round the rules...

Glad the authorities sent 'em back.

French police turn back private jet of holidaymakers from UK

Party of 10 flew into Marseille-Provence airport to be taken by helicopter to luxury Cannes villa

www.theguardian.com

 

[Scarpozzi]

I just got my bill from State Farm and it went up, as usual.

That's because insurance is a numbers scheme and their losing old loyal customers by the minute.

 

[K1052]

Have to say this ticks every box on a certain stereotype of the vulgar rich. Men 40-50, women early 20s, private jet, helicopters, working in 'finance and property' (aka the rentier class who don't actually produce anything), tried to use their 'contacts' to get round the rules...

Glad the authorities sent 'em back.

French police turn back private jet of holidaymakers from UK

Party of 10 flew into Marseille-Provence airport to be taken by helicopter to luxury Cannes villa

www.theguardian.com

Non-essential travel including private aviation should be at zero for the foreseeable future (with exceptions for repatriation) until a vaccine is widely deployed.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

That's because insurance is a numbers scheme and their losing old loyal customers by the minute.

I basically swap auto insurance every 6 or 12 months. Every time I get a renewal bill and if it's higher (Even by $30) I'll go and grab a quote from all competitors.

Basically I'm just constantly flopping between Geico and Progressive.

 

[CZroe]

Non-essential travel including private aviation should be at zero for the foreseeable future (with exceptions for repatriation) until a vaccine is widely deployed.

I dunno... if both countries are having an outbreak and you will only be going out of your second home for essentials why does it matter which country you are in? As long as you aren't isolating with a different set of people at home.

 

[CZroe]

I basically swap auto insurance every 6 or 12 months. Every time I get a renewal bill and if it's higher (Even by $30) I'll go and grab a quote from all competitors.

Basically I'm just constantly flopping between Geico and Progressive.

So every time they flaunt numbers about how many people are switching to their insurance with the "you should too" implication, a lot of those are double-counted. 😉

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

So every time they flaunt numbers about how many people are switching to their insurance with the "you should too" implication, a lot of those are double-counted. 😉

Probably - but what I find funny is that they always give me a "loyalty" discount - apparently they don't determine it by how long you are consecutively with them - but just... I guess... how much you've bought in coverage in your entire history (regardless of lapses).

I remember reading somewhere that switching auto insurance all the time can be bad overtime (similar to a credit score and getting lots of inquiries?) but I've yet to see that reflected in the amounts I'm paying... so.... /shrug.

 

[K1052]

I dunno... if both countries are having an outbreak and you will only be going out of your second home for essentials why does it matter which country you are in? As long as you aren't isolating with a different set of people at home.

The likelihood of being exposed when traveling or exposing others is too great a risk. People should stay the fuck put but especially rich assholes who think rules don't apply to them and would be extremely likely not to obey local orders.

 

[KMFJD]

US citizens in Lebanon decline repatriation offer, saying it's 'safer' in Beirut

Many US citizens in Lebanon have declined a recent embassy offer for repatriation, citing skyrocketing cases in the US. "It's safer in Beirut," some said.

www.cnn.com

well that is certainly an interesting take

 

[Muse]

Non-essential travel including private aviation should be at zero for the foreseeable future (with exceptions for repatriation) until a vaccine is widely deployed.

Dang... the rest of my free drink coupons are going to expire before that. I used one. JK. I stocked up on luggage last summer, all kinds. Have yet to use any rolling luggage, used a compressable packing cube, only once. Got my passport ~3 years ago. Have yet to use that. C'est la vie. Well, if there's one thing I really really know how to do it's hunker down. All that toilet paper hoarding, it's because people aren't used to shitting at home. I almost never shit anywhere else.

 

[nakedfrog]

Though it was already weird to see machines with 3.5" floppies and Serial/Parallel ports when these were made, Dell was still including all that for Optiplex systems since engineers often need their workstations to work with legacy hardware.

They are not the primary computers in the office. The primary one is an IBM/Lenovo machine running Windows 10. That's the one with an optical mouse.

The ones with floppy drives and mechanical ball mice are offline BTX form-factor +
(remember that?!) workstations with obsolete Core 2 Duo and and Pentium Dual Core CPUs set up as multi-channel DVRs. When they need footage from an incident I roll it back and burn it. Those systems are used for little else. I'm not spending my money on accessorizing their equipment, so I just clean then when they gum up every few months.

They did make optical PS2 mice though, I think I still have one around here. I guess maybe they would still be incompatible somehow, IDK.

No, $150 a week for two people comes to $75/week/person, a bit over 10 bucks/day/person. I'd say that's around average at most.

Simple math would show that I was clearly talking about the person spending $300/week 😉
But evidently it's for six people, so that does make it more reasonable.

 

[Muse]

I basically swap auto insurance every 6 or 12 months. Every time I get a renewal bill and if it's higher (Even by $30) I'll go and grab a quote from all competitors.

Basically I'm just constantly flopping between Geico and Progressive.

I'm not sure that would work for me. I get a discount by having my car insurance and home owner's insurance with the same company, Mercury. My insurance agent tells me I'd lose more by switching car insurance to Metromile than I'd gain (I drive less than 1500mi/year, likely much much less this year with this virus). Yeah, the numbers don't add up. I've not made any kind of insurance claim since the 1960's. I also have earthquake insurance. I wish I was confident that insurance would protect me. I have to wonder what would happen if my house crumbled in an earthquake... if some fine print would leave me SOL.

Every time I've contacted another insurance carrier in response to some come-on concerning my car insurance it's been a no-go... except Metromile, but they make you install a tracking mechanism in your car, which doesn't seem fun, plus I'd evidently wind up paying more when I consider losing my dual policy discount with Mercury. Mercury does raise my rates, and several times I've had to call or email my agent and ask why and had my quote lowered! Often had to run out to my car to get the odo reading for them.

 

[K1052]

US citizens in Lebanon decline repatriation offer, saying it's 'safer' in Beirut

Many US citizens in Lebanon have declined a recent embassy offer for repatriation, citing skyrocketing cases in the US. "It's safer in Beirut," some said.

www.cnn.com

well that is certainly an interesting take

The prevailing sense abroad that the US government has badly mishandled this crisis and will continue to do so is a real thing. Off the top of my head I can think of a half dozen other places I'd rather be.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

Got an email from my auto insurance company. They say that due to less cars being on the road and less accidents, they'll be refunding part of my premium. With the estimated numbers they gave, I figure I might be able to buy a pound of coffee.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

Did a store run for 'essentials'. Some lumber, grass seed, a few other things. Hit three stores. Probably saw 100-150 people total between public and workers, maybe a few more. I saw less than 10 dressed for Halloween. The rest were normal and unaffected by the mass psychosis.

 

[Svnla]

In other news, Tyler Perry paid grocery bills for several elders Way to go, Madea.

Tyler Perry pays grocery bills for elderly and high-risk shoppers at 73 stores in Atlanta and New Orleans

"You hear about these things, but you never expect for it to happen to you," one shopper said.

www.cbsnews.com

And this is why we don't get nice things - (not my pic)

 

[CZroe]

The likelihood of being exposed when traveling or exposing others is too great a risk. People should stay the fuck put but especially rich assholes who think rules don't apply to them and would be extremely likely not to obey local orders.

Well, I mean, not so much when you have your own plane... though these people clearly weren't living together.

US citizens in Lebanon decline repatriation offer, saying it's 'safer' in Beirut

Many US citizens in Lebanon have declined a recent embassy offer for repatriation, citing skyrocketing cases in the US. "It's safer in Beirut," some said.

www.cnn.com

well that is certainly an interesting take

It's possible that things are bad there too and they just don't know it. The US leads the world in testing which makes us look way worse in the totals.

They did make optical PS2 mice though, I think I still have one around here. I guess maybe they would still be incompatible somehow, IDK.

Yes, I have a couple old PS/2 optical mouses somewhere at home. I was a very early-adopter of the Intellimouse Explorer and Optical. 🙂

The two ball mice at work are actually USB mouses though. I have them plugged into the front USB ports because they often stop working and need to be unplugged/plugged back in. It was just Dell being cheap in the mid 2000s since they couldn't even assume that a PC like that would need a mouse.

In other news, Tyler Perry paid grocery bills for several elders Way to go, Madea.

Tyler Perry pays grocery bills for elderly and high-risk shoppers at 73 stores in Atlanta and New Orleans

"You hear about these things, but you never expect for it to happen to you," one shopper said.

www.cbsnews.com

And this is why we don't get nice things - (not my pic)

If that surprises you then don't look at the parking lot outside.

 

[pmv]

I dunno... if both countries are having an outbreak and you will only be going out of your second home for essentials why does it matter which country you are in? As long as you aren't isolating with a different set of people at home.

Non-essential travel is being discouraged across the board. If I'm not allowed to go for longer than hour's walk or shop at a shop not in my neighbourhood, then they can shove their private jet where the sun don't shine!

(Also, I'd ban 'second homes' entirely, anyway)

 

[pmv]

It's possible that things are bad there too and they just don't know it. The US leads the world in testing which makes us look way worse in the totals.

Agree that it's very hard to know which place is 'worse' when the data is so incomplete and flawed, so it's a bit pointless to make such comparisons, for the most part. But saying 'the US leads the world in testing' is a Trump line, and not suprisingly not really true. You can only say that if you talk absolute numbers, not per-capita. And I don't see the sense in doing that. Per-capita is what matters, and on that basis the US is middle-of-the-table, at best.

 

[shortylickens]

I had an optical PS/2 mouse and trackball before going USB. Also my first USB mouse was a PS/2 with the adapter in box.
I'm old. I remember when they allowed the mouse in DOS and damn near crapped my pants it was so awesome.
I remember my first wavetable card and how it almost made me cry.
Good times.

 

[CZroe]

Agree that it's very hard to know which place is 'worse' when the data is so incomplete and flawed, so it's a bit pointless to make such comparisons, for the most part. But saying 'the US leads the world in testing' is a Trump line, and not suprisingly not really true. You can only say that if you talk absolute numbers, not per-capita. And I don't see the sense in doing that. Per-capita is what matters, and on that basis the US is middle-of-the-table, at best.

If you look back in this thread I've been calculating the testing rate and pointing this out on my own while everyone else was still acting like you couldn't get tested. It isn't a Trump line... it's my own.

I've also pointed out that we still have a long way to go for a more complete picture with more testing per capita but that takes time with our large population. Even if we tested every single person all at once a month ago it would still only tell us what things were like at that moment and not what we have now... so it isn't like some race to get everyone tested at which point we can say "Yep. Tested everyone. All done. No more tests." This is why focusing on the per capita testing is an even worse metric than on daily testing.

Again, the US leads the world in daily testing and it's still ramping up. Daily testing capacity is the most important metric for up-to-date outbreak visibility.

 

[Printed Circuit Bro]

I remember using an optical PS/2 trackball back in the Quake 2 / 3 days.