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Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on Mar 30, 2020 11:44:09 GMT
As the current viral pandemic alters how people go about their daily lives, I've noticed over the last week the social distancing reminders at the local to Texas chain grocery store as well as Wally World.
In a way it's a bit nicer not to have people aggressively crowding, as if by allowing you no space they can make a checkout line go faster or make items in short supply magically appear.
In a way it's not so nice, when some people slow a line by trying to maintain an eighteen foot distance rather than the recommended six spacing.
Then there's the backlash to toilet paper, paper towel, and wet wipe hoarding. Almost two weeks ago I knew it would get a bit ugly sooner rather than later. Whether it's the woman who glares when anyone gets near her and the cart she's pushing [with two large packages of toilet paper when one would do] or the people having their vehicles broken into while they're inside the grocery store [said vehicles being pilfered of toilet paper, paper towels, and wet wipes], people are getting tired of hoarders and some are getting desperate.
The ironic part is the signs that have gone up in the grocery store advising customers that if they over-purchased certain items in preparation for the outbreak, due to concern for the health and safety of other customers the store won't accept the return of those items. It would appear some people decided they didn't need a six month supply of toilet paper or frozen lasagna and tried to get some of their money back.
Had I written about the above actions or events as part of a novel even a year ago, few readers would have found it believable. Just goes to show that reality is often stranger than fiction.
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Post by And Kevin 2024 on Mar 30, 2020 13:13:19 GMT
In the UK they are considering Martial Law, because there's a minority of people totally ignoring the guidelines.
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Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on Mar 30, 2020 13:22:50 GMT
There always going to be a few a-holes who make things hard than they have to be on everyone else.
In these here parts the ones trying to keep hoarding after being told to knock it off are learning the hard way. Going to Wally World to buy up all the paper goods they can and then going directly to the grocery store to do more of the same is simply asking to be robbed of what others can't find of the shelves. Yet the hoarders can't quite seem to grasp that as their activities make the situation worse for others, the responsible for the growing lack of civility.
Call it a reality disconnect.
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Post by benziger on Mar 30, 2020 13:56:19 GMT
The virologists recommended one meter distance. So the government ordered it. The Swiss kept half a metre distance. The government then ordered us to stay two meters apart, and we are now one meter apart ;-)
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Post by Maggieguest on Mar 30, 2020 14:00:57 GMT
The virologists recommended one meter distance. So the government ordered it. The Swiss kept half a metre distance. The government then ordered us to stay two meters apart, and we are now one meter apart ;-) Benziger, you just told me in the other thread no talking about anything but books , and here we are talking about something not books. I think we should be allowed to talk about anything we want. We are just a handful and running out of things to say.
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Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on Mar 30, 2020 14:22:02 GMT
Maggie,
Benziger asking us to not discuss politics kind of follows an old rule my father mentioned years ago [as have others more recently] that the best way to avoid arguments [and sometimes altercations] is to not discuss politics, religion, and sex.
Different societies handle such discussions in different manners, though when it comes to the US, those three topics can be a potential field of landmines you likely don't want to tap dance across.
In real world discussions people find out very quickly I have a very low to no tolerance for listening to polarized arguments for or against either side of the spectrum.
Theoretical discussions about a hypothetical political system in a novel can likely fly, one example would be the political systems L. M. Bujold's "Barrayar" series of books.
As for the virus discussion, it is fodder for novels. The novel I recently finished writing features a virus [in another version of reality] that killed off over half of humanity within a few years during the late 70s.
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Post by benziger on Mar 30, 2020 16:04:02 GMT
you just told me in the other thread no talking about anything but books I asked for moderation. In my linguistic comprehension this is not a ban. There are areas where others can be very dogmatic. As long as it is not about book production, I recommend not to take it to extremes. That is all.
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Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on Mar 30, 2020 16:11:51 GMT
I asked for moderation. In my linguistic comprehension this is not a ban. There are areas where others can be very dogmatic. As long as it is not about book production, I recommend not to take it to extremes. That is all. Herr Benziger,
You might be surprised how many Americans simply do not linguistically comprehend the word "moderation".
Hence my preference to keep certain discussions limited to hypothetical situations, while acknowledging how quickly some Americans will try to litigate anything that challenges the biases inherent to their conceptual frameworks.
Consider the nominal age of when a Neanderthal would be considered old enough to take on adult roles at a point in time when most people died before age 40. A lot of Americans today simply can't grasp that what is considered a childhood of normal duration today has only been in place for a bit over 100 years.
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Post by benziger on Mar 30, 2020 21:11:35 GMT
If there weren't so many time zones between you and me, I'd love to come by and I guess we understand each other perfectly.
I have an aunt from Florida and an uncle from New York. One of them is exactly like the picture we have of "the Americans". The other one is the exact opposite.
It is clear to me what is involved in the formation of this or that culture. A continent that has grown over 2000 years, led by this or that upper class. A country that for 200 years has been made up of adventurers, deported* good-for-nothings and poor people, where the quicker and the stronger have the say. This is probably very much to the point and more than pointedly formulated.
* In Switzerland in the 19th century, it was cheaper to pay poor people a ticket to America at municipal cost than to feed them for a year. Some villages shipped half the population in this way - certainly not the academics, elite and other established people.
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Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on Mar 30, 2020 21:35:29 GMT
If there weren't so many time zones between you and me, I'd love to come by and I guess we understand each other perfectly.
I have an aunt from Florida and an uncle from New York. One of them is exactly like the picture we have of "the Americans". The other one is the exact opposite.
It is clear to me what is involved in the formation of this or that culture. A continent that has grown over 2000 years, led by this or that upper class. A country that for 200 years has been made up of adventurers, deported* good-for-nothings and poor people, where the quicker and the stronger have the say. This is probably very much to the point and more than pointedly formulated.
* In Switzerland in the 19th century, it was cheaper to pay poor people a ticket to America at municipal cost than to feed them for a year. Some villages shipped half the population in this way - certainly not the academics, elite and other established people.
Herr Benziger,
Since we can't share a pint and talk of certain things, you do have my email. I have no interest in politics per se, except for how policies may affect certain patterns I have been monitoring for a few decades. When it comes to ruling over others, people of my line tend to say you're on your own.
As for "upper class", my predecessors led the society they were embedded in from about the fall of Rome up until slightly less than three hundred years ago, when the cost in terms of their families being assassinated simply became too dear and they [for the most part] walked away because exile was preferable to extinction. What they didn't realize was that the damage was already done, centuries later we still feel a compulsion to serve society as we may without leading, while seeking to be left to seek our own destinies. Simply put, I would rather thrash someone than serve in an elected political office, because the thought is abhorrent due to the threat to my replacements.
When it comes to predation of the masses, easy enough for those who aren't well-evolved in a social sense to do, but fairly repugnant to those who are.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 30, 2020 23:16:58 GMT
you just told me in the other thread no talking about anything but books I asked for moderation. In my linguistic comprehension this is not a ban. There are areas where others can be very dogmatic. As long as it is not about book production, I recommend not to take it to extremes. That is all. Moderation is fair.
I just watched Aaron Russo's America: From Freedom to Fascism. I do not know if it's a book but many who speak in it are authors. In particular Katherine Albrecht who wrote Spychips
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Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on Mar 31, 2020 0:29:17 GMT
Miss Maggie, Perhaps you would like to see something based on the work of someone I consider a "goober", though he echoes much of my rather unedumicated perspective. www.imdb.com/title/tt3270538/Search "Requiem for the American Dream" if nothing pulls up. Chomsky is a "goober" for thinking he can fight the entropy of a dying civilization. Amateurs, pshaw.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2020 8:38:29 GMT
Miss Maggie, Perhaps you would like to see something based on the work of someone I consider a "goober", though he echoes much of my rather unedumicated perspective. www.imdb.com/title/tt3270538/Search "Requiem for the American Dream" if nothing pulls up. Chomsky is a "goober" for thinking he can fight the entropy of a dying civilization. Amateurs, pshaw. Cameron, that's an amazing suggestion. Thank you.
So stressed this morning. I saw on yahoo news that they are thinking of enforcing social distancing by spying on people using their smartphone, and, you would get an announcement telling you you are too close to another human. How sick is that?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2020 8:47:44 GMT
Can't find the article I read this morning but here is another:
Is slowing the spread of coronavirus worth compromising your privacy? By Sara Morrison Mar 26, 2020, 7:20am EDT
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Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on Apr 1, 2020 12:19:24 GMT
Can't find the article I read this morning but here is another:
Is slowing the spread of coronavirus worth compromising your privacy? By Sara Morrison Mar 26, 2020, 7:20am EDT
Easiest solution, switch the GPS function on your phone to "off". [Then tacking you is far less accurate due to being based off cell tower pings.]
Not always a solution, remove the battery from your phone and only put it back in when you need to make a call or arrive home. [The battery in my phone is integrated, and not removable without a lot of effort.]
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