Coronavirus

[yak pac fatal]

I heard good things about Mass Effect being one of the best RPGs for Xbox. Or just a great game overall. I'm just a simpleton, though. I love a good story but games with good stories usually have tricky puzzles or I get stuck anyhow and I give up on them lol. I stick to pick up and play games and I really wanted one of the Forzas but there weren't any at my store. Even in GTA4, I plan to just run around and do dumb shit and occasionally do the missions.

I logged in to Live and saw that Ray still plays his XBone a lot. I haven't talked to that dude in a while but he's still got the wacky profile bio on there about retard porn and being an idiot lol. I should reach out.

Yea, Mass Effect trilogy is real dope but I didn't like the 3rd one. First one is my favorite and I can still play it but I'm sure to most people it's heavily outdated gameplay wise (would love a remake of it). I think there is literally one puzzle in Mass Effect one and you can use omni-gel to skip it lol. It's a vast universe and you can easily get lost in it. Highly recommend it but stay far away from Mass Effect Andromeda.

I think there is a demo of Mass Effect 2 on steam and maybe possibly 360 if you wanna give it a try to get a feel what the games like.

 

[yak pac fatal]

Oh no I think I'm working tomorrow. NJ is allowing manufacturing operations.

 

[dilla]

Yea, Mass Effect trilogy is real dope but I didn't like the 3rd one. First one is my favorite and I can still play it but I'm sure to most people it's heavily outdated gameplay wise (would love a remake of it). I think there is literally one puzzle in Mass Effect one and you can use omni-gel to skip it lol. It's a vast universe and you can easily get lost in it. Highly recommend it but stay far away from Mass Effect Andromeda.

I think there is a demo of Mass Effect 2 on steam and maybe possibly 360 if you wanna give it a try to get a feel what the games like.

Was it ever a free game with that whole Games for Gold, or whatever it was called? Where Microsoft would give a game or two for free every month? Games with Gold might have been what it was called.

I got in to GTA4 and DMC4 mostly this past weekend. I don't think I need anything else right now especially with two more games sitting there already.

 

[k69atie]

I have just had an op, otherwise would be at work as I am classed as a key worker. Just gone on 3 week lockdown here in the UK, so now can't see my BF which is shit xx

 

[THEV1LL4N]

I have just had an op, otherwise would be at work as I am classed as a key worker. Just gone on 3 week lockdown here in the UK, so now can't see my BF which is shit xx

I feel your pain.

I am also a key worker and am expected to go into work as I need to physically be there to manage stock.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

Games to play:

Sonic Mania
Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy
Spyro Trilogy Reignited
Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled
Medievil (remaster)


When you rediscover these gems and are flooded with nostalgia, you'll be grateful.

Did anyone get the new Micro Machines or Bomberman games?

 

[yak pac fatal]

Was it ever a free game with that whole Games for Gold, or whatever it was called? Where Microsoft would give a game or two for free every month? Games with Gold might have been what it was called.

I got in to GTA4 and DMC4 mostly this past weekend. I don't think I need anything else right now especially with two more games sitting there already.

I don’t know, it might’ve been. Yea, if you play mass effect it’ll definitely consume majority of your gaming time.

 

[yak pac fatal]

I just had to take a 20% pay cut because a lot customers and suppliers are closed. Fuck.

 

[Rukas]

This shit is crazy.

Feels like it’s been going on forever. When I was in London it was just breaking and I already couldn’t get hand sanitiser or face masks anywhere. Then when I flew out of London at the end of Jan just as it was breaking a woman on my flight collapsed and we got stranded on the tarmac at Heathrow for four hours. Hazmat suits came on and took her and her family off. Then when we landed in Hong Kong we were segregated from the rest of the people there - not that there were a lot.

We had to cancel work trips to Dubai and London again.

I’ve had to cancel a trip to Poland for May.

Oh we cancelled a trip to San Fran as well. I should be there right now!

Crazy times.

I’m self isolating man. My wife and I aren’t leaving the apartment fuck that.

 

[SiGh]

Vegas shut down about a week ago. people were panicking more a week ago than now. But even with that, supermarkets are empty.

I’ve been at home, got laid off about a week ago. Hopefully returning to the work scene in about 6-8 weeks they say.

Yak, you’re from NJ?

 

[k69atie]

I feel your pain.

I am also a key worker and am expected to go into work as I need to physically be there to manage stock.

Shit isn't it?

 

[yak pac fatal]

Vegas shut down about a week ago. people were panicking more a week ago than now. But even with that, supermarkets are empty.

I’ve been at home, got laid off about a week ago. Hopefully returning to the work scene in about 6-8 weeks they say.

Yak, you’re from NJ?

Yea, it’s getting crazy here. New York is worse and all these cats from there is coming over here whether it’s to the Hackensack hospital or to Uber and shit.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

I saw this today:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ET52w3BXgAAOTVP?format=jpg&name=large

 

[dilla]

Yea, it’s getting crazy here. New York is worse and all these cats from there is coming over here whether it’s to the Hackensack hospital or to Uber and shit.

NYC and LA are about to blow this thing wide open once they start testing more and more people. I think the US now leads the world in infected and/or deaths from the virus. I think it's the infection numbers since I don't think we're in the 1000s yet.

My dad had a patient in his clinic that tested positive for it. I don't know if I mentioned it earlier but that patient had to be taken by ambulance and admitted and isolated. Not sure what his outlook is but this was about a week ago. We still get some moronic patients that don't know the signs and symptoms and think a simple sneeze means they have it and they call to get admitted in the hospital to get tested. I understand being cautious but it really feels like people read the headlines of stories and that's it; never to read beyond that to see what symptoms could be and how to take precautions.

I think this outbreaks are cyclical since the Spanish Flu, SARS, MERS, and now COVID-19 are all the same virus, if I'm not mistaken. Just mutated over time. There's probably going to be another one in a decade or so but boy this one really fucked us up.

My sister's university cancelled classes, as I'm sure most places have. She now does online lectures which is so weird. This was her final semester and she had a relatively light load, so it's essentially just one class per day, typically in the mornings, but I don't know how her exams and finals are going to work. But there has been so much talk about how everything changes once the worst of this is over and people return back to school or work.

How the industries could change, for the better, and allow more remote work being done. Schools might realize that more courses could be offered online or remotely or that current classes can ease off of meeting times and have some parts of courses/lectures done online. Then there's also the negative aspect of it. I'm sure many companies will find as they adapted the past few weeks and continue to adapt for a few months more that some positions were unnecessary and lay off the workers. Or cut hours and tell them to work from home for a fraction of the wages, stating that working from home is one of the "perks."

A couple of celebs have tested positive and I think one has even passed away from it. Mark Blum being one of them. I didn't know who Floyd Cardoz was but he was another famous person who passed away from complications from it.

No more talks about the elections or other shitty political stuff; it seems that even that has taken a backseat to this, which is weird. ESPN is all about the impact of the virus on sports. The news is about the virus and its impact on the economy, the deaths, and the lack of funding/aid. The tech world is focused on this. Gaming has been affected by it, like the cancellation of events like E3. Auto shows were cancelled and General Motors has some ridiculous 84 months interest-free finance rates on all their cars. It's like every sector got caught with their pants down and is now worried for the future. It makes sense why but still...I never thought in this day and age the world would come to a grinding halt, unless someone snipped all the wires to those undersea fiber optic cables for the internet all at once.

Seriously, I thought the world's internet going down in this day and age would be about the only thing that would cause pandemonium.

 

[yak pac fatal]

NYC and LA are about to blow this thing wide open once they start testing more and more people. I think the US now leads the world in infected and/or deaths from the virus. I think it's the infection numbers since I don't think we're in the 1000s yet.

My dad had a patient in his clinic that tested positive for it. I don't know if I mentioned it earlier but that patient had to be taken by ambulance and admitted and isolated. Not sure what his outlook is but this was about a week ago. We still get some moronic patients that don't know the signs and symptoms and think a simple sneeze means they have it and they call to get admitted in the hospital to get tested. I understand being cautious but it really feels like people read the headlines of stories and that's it; never to read beyond that to see what symptoms could be and how to take precautions.

I think this outbreaks are cyclical since the Spanish Flu, SARS, MERS, and now COVID-19 are all the same virus, if I'm not mistaken. Just mutated over time. There's probably going to be another one in a decade or so but boy this one really fucked us up.

My sister's university cancelled classes, as I'm sure most places have. She now does online lectures which is so weird. This was her final semester and she had a relatively light load, so it's essentially just one class per day, typically in the mornings, but I don't know how her exams and finals are going to work. But there has been so much talk about how everything changes once the worst of this is over and people return back to school or work.

How the industries could change, for the better, and allow more remote work being done. Schools might realize that more courses could be offered online or remotely or that current classes can ease off of meeting times and have some parts of courses/lectures done online. Then there's also the negative aspect of it. I'm sure many companies will find as they adapted the past few weeks and continue to adapt for a few months more that some positions were unnecessary and lay off the workers. Or cut hours and tell them to work from home for a fraction of the wages, stating that working from home is one of the "perks."

A couple of celebs have tested positive and I think one has even passed away from it. Mark Blum being one of them. I didn't know who Floyd Cardoz was but he was another famous person who passed away from complications from it.

No more talks about the elections or other shitty political stuff; it seems that even that has taken a backseat to this, which is weird. ESPN is all about the impact of the virus on sports. The news is about the virus and its impact on the economy, the deaths, and the lack of funding/aid. The tech world is focused on this. Gaming has been affected by it, like the cancellation of events like E3. Auto shows were cancelled and General Motors has some ridiculous 84 months interest-free finance rates on all their cars. It's like every sector got caught with their pants down and is now worried for the future. It makes sense why but still...I never thought in this day and age the world would come to a grinding halt, unless someone snipped all the wires to those undersea fiber optic cables for the internet all at once.

Seriously, I thought the world's internet going down in this day and age would be about the only thing that would cause pandemonium.

My county is the worst one in Jerz smh. My cousins works in a hospital in NY and she said they're expecting it to hit it's peak in the coming 2 weeks. Luckily the death rate is low here in the US.

Donovan Mitchell and Gobert are corona free now. I don't think Mitchell had any symptoms the whole time.

 

[masta247]

What the hell is happening in America. I know the medical system there has been problematic for a long time, but it's horrible that for so many weeks there's no way to even get everyone WITH SYMPTOMS tested.. or even successfully isolated. It's the richest medical system in the whole world, yet turned out to work the worst in actually delivering results for the country under pressure. Except this is a world matter, not a country matter, and we are just across the border with a fairly contained spread and anyone with a cough and fever tested for free, with new infections on track to plateau. The system Canada has in place are the main difference between us and the US, as cultures and daily habits are largely similar. China and pretty much the rest of Asia have contained it and lately been tackling the issue almost flawlessly with significantly higher population densities and much cheaper medical systems too.

It's also interesting from the cultural perspective. In Italy people partied under lockdown, but in the US people.. go to work? Guys, please don't ruin it for all of us due to your selfish desire to.. work..? lol.

I apologize for criticizing a different country I don't live in, but apart from Italy I'm seriously worried that the US is going to be that one country that fails to contain this, looking at what's happening in big cities there. Worst case scenario is that we'd have the deadliest virus so far joining the roaster of regularly occuring human viruses, which would be horrible for us all, because a country is failing to deal with it. It would be such a shame if it happens in the country with the most resources to eradicate it.

I'm hoping after the US pulls through there's going to be some serious discussion/action about how ridiculous it is to have no paid sick leave or having to have medical insurance to not be a potential risk to humanity's survival.
People were already suffering before that but the fact this hasn't been working shows that bad systems are not only a risk to their own citizens, but to the whole world.

Furthermore, it should be a law anywhere in the world to sit the fuck home if you're sick with a contagious disease. Spreading it is no different than assaulting someone on the street or drunk driving. Doesn't matter if it's COVID or flu - if someone's sick with it and doesn't isolate, they are inflicting bodily harm or killing others, and it is almost entirely preventable.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

Turkey is also looking pretty bad as well. I feel countries in the West are laid back/not as firm about it compared to the East.

 

[dilla]

My county is the worst one in Jerz smh. My cousins works in a hospital in NY and she said they're expecting it to hit it's peak in the coming 2 weeks. Luckily the death rate is low here in the US.

Donovan Mitchell and Gobert are corona free now. I don't think Mitchell had any symptoms the whole time.

I think I saw a doctor say in a video that the peak is supposed to be first week of May. But they also said their data is always changing and it could move closer or further over time.

What the hell is happening in America. I know the medical system there has been problematic for a long time, but it's horrible that for so many weeks there's no way to even get everyone WITH SYMPTOMS tested.. or even successfully isolated. It's the richest medical system in the whole world, yet turned out to work the worst in actually delivering results for the country under pressure. Except this is a world matter, not a country matter, and we are just across the border with a fairly contained spread and anyone with a cough and fever tested for free, with new infections on track to plateau. The system Canada has in place are the main difference between us and the US, as cultures and daily habits are largely similar. China and pretty much the rest of Asia have contained it and lately been tackling the issue almost flawlessly with significantly higher population densities and much cheaper medical systems too.

It's also interesting from the cultural perspective. In Italy people partied under lockdown, but in the US people.. go to work? Guys, please don't ruin it for all of us due to your selfish desire to.. work..? lol.

I apologize for criticizing a different country I don't live in, but apart from Italy I'm seriously worried that the US is going to be that one country that fails to contain this, looking at what's happening in big cities there. Worst case scenario is that we'd have the deadliest virus so far joining the roaster of regularly occuring human viruses, which would be horrible for us all, because a country is failing to deal with it. It would be such a shame if it happens in the country with the most resources to eradicate it.

I'm hoping after the US pulls through there's going to be some serious discussion/action about how ridiculous it is to have no paid sick leave or having to have medical insurance to not be a potential risk to humanity's survival.
People were already suffering before that but the fact this hasn't been working shows that bad systems are not only a risk to their own citizens, but to the whole world.

Furthermore, it should be a law anywhere in the world to sit the fuck home if you're sick with a contagious disease. Spreading it is no different than assaulting someone on the street or drunk driving. Doesn't matter if it's COVID or flu - if someone's sick with it and doesn't isolate, they are inflicting bodily harm or killing others, and it is almost entirely preventable.

I think many people in developed countries think that this is more of a third world problem, or just simply "Everyone else but us" in terms of getting infected and then recovering.

There's also a lot of misinformation being thrown out there, especially by Trump. Health professionals and academics are saying one thing, but he seems to be ignoring them and thinking this is all a minor thing. He plans to lift quarantine conditions in a few places soon despite experts telling him not to. There's the popular physician, Dr Fauci, who has been educating people through celebs like Trevor Noah and Steph Curry and he's now under attack by some Trump fans for contradicting Trump's stance on the virus and quarantine.

Stupid people are ruining it. I'm sure there are also people that need to do things, like work or get supplies/goods for the home but one is relatively more excusable than the other.

 

[masta247]

I think many people in developed countries think that this is more of a third world problem (..)There's also a lot of misinformation being thrown out there, especially by Trump. Health professionals and academics are saying one thing, but he seems to be ignoring them and thinking this is all a minor thing.

The US had more cases and deaths than all of the third world countries combined. As of today there are more confirmed American deaths from the coronavirus than all that died on 9/11. And the numbers are now growing faster and faster every day. The number of cases there is expected to reach China and Italy combined by Tuesday, and that's confirmed cases, considering the US did a smaller number of tests than many developing countries. Considering the US is late to the game, the number of deaths is going to catch up quickly now as well.

In New York alone yesterday there was a person confirmed to die from the coronavirus every 15 minutes. That means they tested positive (most who are sick still are not) and the outcome was death, in most cases due to total respiratory failure. It means not all coronavirus-deaths are counted, and in that city there are already more of these confirmed deaths than cancer deaths, and these kill 600,000 Americans every year.

And that's not even the scariest part. The worst part is that it's getting significantly worse with every single day, with the number of deaths increasing literally exponentially now:

I have no idea how it's still possible to spin it as a "others" problem, or play it down, considering America is the center of this now, and the numbers are crazy scary. If there are any hopes of stopping this by summer, leaving home shouldn't be an option, even if your office is on fire.

 

[dilla]

The US had more cases and deaths than all of the third world countries combined. As of today there are more confirmed American deaths from the coronavirus than all that died on 9/11. And the numbers are now growing faster and faster every day. The number of cases there is expected to reach China and Italy combined by Tuesday, and that's confirmed cases, considering the US did a smaller number of tests than many developing countries. Considering the US is late to the game, the number of deaths is going to catch up quickly now as well.

In New York alone yesterday there was a person confirmed to die from the coronavirus every 15 minutes. That means they tested positive (most who are sick still are not) and the outcome was death, in most cases due to total respiratory failure. It means not all coronavirus-deaths are counted, and in that city there are already more of these confirmed deaths than cancer deaths, and these kill 600,000 Americans every year.

And that's not even the scariest part. The worst part is that it's getting significantly worse with every single day, with the number of deaths increasing literally exponentially now:

View attachment 495

I have no idea how it's still possible to spin it as a "others" problem, or play it down, considering America is the center of this now, and the numbers are crazy scary. If there are any hopes of stopping this by summer, leaving home shouldn't be an option, even if your office is on fire.

Well, yeah, I mentioned those people as the examples of why this could be spreading so fast. Because people don't take it as seriously, for some reason. It seems the more "well-connected" a society is with information, the stupider and more lax they are about the situation.

As with every tragedy, the memes inevitably come about. When the Harambe incident happened, people were shocked and angry and demanded quick action and discipline of the person who shot them. A few months later? "Dicks out for Harambe."

The Epstein scandal? People were so disgusted when the news first broke. Everyone wanted this guy in jail, hung, etc. After, of course, spitting out the names of the people he dealt with that also partook in the abuse and trafficking. What happened? A few weeks in jail, he gets killed/killed himself, and Epstein is literally a meme now. "Epstein didn't kill himself" appears everywhere.

The Covid situation? It's a healthy mix of clickbait articles in the media and people meme-ing about what they're doing or not doing during quarantine and tons of other stuff.

I can see some people need an outlet during these trying times, but social media really makes it seem like people take the wrong message from things that get posted. About anything. What's meant to be a joke or a jab can quickly turn integrate in to some people's ideas, philosophies, politics, ethics, etc. And I would venture to guess that Western countries come in to more contact with these memes and jokes more than the rest of the world. Especially the US.

People see these memes day-in and day-out and become desensitized to it. Now it's just something someone says is "bad" but most Americans haven't actually seen the effects of the virus, other than empty toilet paper aisles and empty roads due to people self-quarantining. That's not real enough to make someone take it seriously. So I get why some people might be lax about social distancing and everything else that's being strongly suggested as measures to protect us all.

If you're talking about the government's response, or lack thereof, then that's different and I don't have much to say about that because I'm not that informed. The whole world was unprepared for something of this scale but somehow the US seems to have gotten it the worst. And we're supposedly not even at the halfway point as yet of how bad this thing will ultimately be. I'll be honest, I pin this whole thing on the Chinese government keeping all of the details under wraps and not doing more to stop it. That includes being open about who was infected, how, etc. When this even is looked back upon in the future, there will always be an asterisk next to China's reported numbers because they clearly kept it secret from their own people and the rest of the world. Only once it started fucking with countries like Italy did the world notice and try to take action. This akin to starting a fire at work, tossing a wet rag on it and running out of the building and waiting in the parking lot, not even pulling the alarm to let others know something is up, let alone that you were responsible for it.

But I honestly don't know how the US is so high although some stuff I've read has simply been attributing it to lack of tests and shitty criteria in order to obtain one. There was a British and/or an Indian company that supposedly had a 15 minute test available and they were looking to get it approved but I'm not sure what happened with that.

Anway, away from the actualy outbreak and its negative effects and on to something relatively positive. I've been cleaning out who I follow on social media, especially Twitter and YouTube. I really only use social media for news and updates from certain people, but I've started using YouTube more regularly than I ever did before. Prior to a few months ago, I was only on YouTube because I was linked to some video on Twitter or Reddit and I'd usually just watch the video and that was it.

But now I've been adding and removing more people, especially tech people. I actually unfollowed MKBHD a few weeks back because I just got tired of his bland takes on tech. It was either about things I'd never look to buy or things I'd be interested in but he did grill it hard enough and just said it was "dope." I still love the guy but his videos were not for me anymore.

Instead, I started following review sites I'd normally visit on their actual site and subscribed to their channels for the reviews. RTings, The Wirecutter, etc. And now I've really been enjoying their stuff by watching it instead of just reading it.

I'm still looking for more tech folks to follow since I still follow pretty mainstream YTers like UrAvgConsumer and iJustine and Austin Evans. I enjoy them, but the "this video was sponsored by _____" always rubs me the wrong way, even though I understand it's necessary in order for them to make money.

And the rest have been car channels where they review stuff or do dumbass things with them.

So I'm probably a decade late to the party of YouTube channel-subscribing, but with this time I have to do nothing, I've been able to clean up some stuff I had been following since 2008, or so, and replace it with proper content creators that align more with my interests now.

I still have a lot of pruning to do on Twitter accounts, though. I think I added every Android-related blog since 2009 on there lol. And just broad, general tech sites like Engadget, who I don't think I read their content as much anymore. So I might have to get rid of those and trim down those lists.