Random Rants
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My wife and I prep to some degree (we don't have an underground bunker…yet) and largely the covid-19 freakout isn't going to affect us. Even if the supply chain is damaged, we have six weeks of freeze dried food stored. I'm not too concerned about water in this situation, the water systems in my area are largely automated and if it comes to it, there's a stream 100m away and I have a water purification system.
I went to the Lidl by my house the other day and the shelves were bare. People were freaking out and I needed all of one bag of spinach.
The panic buying is pretty interesting to watch. At the rate things are going, you're going to have to participate or you're going to be left behind. If shelves are bare because people are buying two weeks worth of food at a time, you're not going to be able to get your groceries weekly.
If the people that manufacture the food stay home to avoid getting sick...you're not going to get your food.
If the guys that drive the trucks to get the food to the store stay home...you're not going to get your food.
If the stores are understaffed because people are staying home...you get it.
I'm reminded of one of my favorite quotes "we are nine meals from anarchy."
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Luckily the most dire estimates of the surprisingly high mortality is still lower than 4% even with very few people being tested (skewing the denominator down and artificially inflating the rate) and elderly/infirm/immunocompromised (as in >80 years or very sick already) are far more vulnerable to succumbing to the disease, skewing towards males.
Without a mutation, this won't that virus that ushers in an apocalypse, but then again, we seem to be at peak stupid these days so I suppose it could. It seems that the reaction has the potential to be far worse than the disease.
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@mclaincausey agreed on all points.
It seems that the reaction has the potential to be far worse than the disease.
This is bewilderingly true in some countries. Not in others. I wonder why. In Norway people are very relaxed (moving towards 40 infections, no deaths). The UK seems relatively calm. Australia is seeing panic buying/prepping as is the US. I wonder how much media coverage is responsible? If all the good info in a media is behind a paywall and most people aren’t accessing it does this lead to more ass-clown behaviour?
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Today's update from a friend of mine in Tokyo…...
"My dad asked me how things seem in Tokyo. I told him, 50% of people are wearing face masks, like normal during this time of year. The Shinkansen to Okayama was pretty well empty, as usual too.
The biggest difference is there are much fewer Chinese tourists in Tokyo. Shibuya crossing is not as crazy as it usually is. But Yamanote line is still full of Japanese business people even at 6AM!"
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I wonder how much media coverage is responsible?
As I mentioned earlier, I think social media is partly responsible because it reaches far more people than it did back in the early 2000's, before Facebook, Twitter and Youtube were formed. Instagram came about in 2010 so that has added to the chorus of millions of voices out there.
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If everyone listened to the New York Times Daily Podcast instead of watching the news things would be much different.
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I wonder how much media coverage is responsible?
As I mentioned earlier, I think social media is partly responsible because it reaches far more people than it did back in the early 2000's, before Facebook, Twitter and Youtube were formed. Instagram came about in 2010 so that has added to the chorus of millions of voices out there.
The problem is bigger than social media. It is a symptom as much as a cause. We have social media in Belgium, the UK and Norway but we also have access to quality news coverage free of charge. In the US amongst other places all that is behind a pay wall. This means people resort to social media or news reliant on adverts and therefore with compromised quality, are the only sources.
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If everyone listened to the New York Times Daily Podcast instead of watching the news things would be much different.
Word.
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23 cases here. No hysteria, no prepping, and we don't even have a working government.
You think you don't have a working govt ::)
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Out here in LA, probably the worst place one could be in the US in terms of exposure risk, I can't even tell anything is amiss (it isn't) unless I go to a Costco.
There seems to be no way to get hand sanitizer.
The confluence of media/new media, a lack of basic critical thinking skills and education, and social media fan the flames of overreaction. More crucially, it is fueling broader political decay globally, but I will leave that there.
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Oh, that does suck.
My wife is trying to scheme a way for us to go to Japan this year, since airfare had dropped to near comical levels. Unfortunately, I don't have enough vacation time to make it viable, though I'm gaming out ways to make it work.
As you can tell, we're terrified of Covid-19 in this house.
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Oh, that does suck.
My wife is trying to scheme a way for us to go to Japan this year, since airfare had dropped to near comical levels. Unfortunately, I don't have enough vacation time to make it viable, though I'm gaming out ways to make it work.
As you can tell, we're terrified of Covid-19 in this house.
i've actually had a look too! cheap hotels and cheap airfares. how good is it! the only worry i'd have is that tourist attractions and places you wanna go to might not be open..
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Russia's channel one is stating that the US are behind the development of this as biochemical warfare. Seriously, Russia's top news channel.
