Chat about Novel Coronavirus - 2019-nCoV - COVID-19

New York has reached the point of digging mass graves for those whose families can't pay for funerals. Of course there is drone footage.

What's wrong with cremation?

The use of mass graves in these cases is not new.

"Unearthing the Secrets of New York’s Mass Graves - The New York Times" https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/05/15/nyregion/new-york-mass-graves-hart-island.html

New York is unique among American cities in the way it disposes of the dead it considers unclaimed: interment on a lonely island, off-limits to the public, by a crew of inmates. Buried by the score in wide, deep pits, the Hart Island dead seem to vanish — and so does any explanation for how they came to be there.

Probably old, probably a repost, definitely don't care.

https://www.thejuicemedia.com/honest-government-ad-coronavirus/

Believe themselves to be protected / protecting others.

This. Risk compensation is just one of many aspects the mask debate shares with the bicycle helmet debate. Shifting the burden of proof was already mentioned. Also, rotational injuries with helmets and lack of training, fitting and discipline with masks are just ignored. I keep seeing people grip their mask by the front (where the droplets are) in order to lift it up on to their forehead and scratch their face.

Do you get paid for going to parties?

I'm going to presume because you've only been here two years you don't know who Ed is - he's fixie famous you know.

Slight dredge, but would imagine I was one of these 'boy racers', baseball cap and everything at 3pm on a thursday...

2 week shop for 3 in the gaps between meetings was going to be harder to achieve at what I had hoped was 'a quiet point in the day' on a bike than in a car...

But the point is valid - if I leave for an hour and a half to shop, where did the one empty parking spot I vacated go, if everyone is at home?

https://www.hln.be/wetenschap-planeet/wetenschap/belgische-simulatie-fietsen-joggen-of-wandelen-doe-je-best-niet-achter-elkaar-in-tijden-van-corona~a60aece6/#comments

Het Laatste Nieuws quoted Bert Blocken, a civil engineer who specialises in sports aerodynamics among other things, as saying that the Lycra brigade should keep 20 metres clear of each other in their axis of travel.

There´s precisely fuck all chance of that happening. Yesterday I was out on the new F14 fietssnelweg (nice and wide) north of Antwerpen and cyclists were struggling even with the official 1.5m rule. A polite "afstand houden alstublieft" was met with expletives being spat out in my face. Will keep to shite rough concrete main roads or opt for long walks instead now that the sun is out.

From the comments: "In vlaanderen is dat misschien vloeken, maar het virus is atheïstisch." "In Flanders that [curbs on cycling] may well be blasphemy, but the virus is atheistic."

https://bylinetimes.com/2020/04/09/leaked-home-office-call-reveals-uk-government-wants-economy-to-continue-running-as-we-will-all-get-covid-19-anyway/

Interesting article regarding the leaked home office recordings

This kind of thing is the best argument against giving the police any extra powers in this crisis:

A day after a police force threatened to snoop through people’s
shopping baskets, officers elsewhere have taken it upon themselves to
decide what count as ‘non-essential aisles’ in supermarkets. Police in
Cambridge tweeted a picture outside Tesco Barhill during their patrols
of supermarkets and green spaces. They said: ‘Good to see everyone was
abiding by social distancing measures and the non essential aisles
were empty’.

And:

Yesterday Nottinghamshire Police Chief Constable, Nick Adderley, came
in for criticism after threatening that his force was ‘a few days
away’ from looking in shopping trolleys to see what people had bought.

I know those are individual people going a bit too far, but still, you give them one reason to be slightly stricter and next thing you hear talk about them checking your shopping trolley? Yikes.

Bah, lekker onbeschoft. Je vraagt het toch netjes?

A general problem or one mostly from lycra chaingangs? My parents always complain they wants everyone to move out of the way.

But here in Belfast cycling closeness is actually not the lycra cyclists, they stay on the road by themselves where I live, the recreational ones in parks are getting too close as paths aren't quite wide enough and they don't want to wait.

Well, you wouldn't want anyone to come home with anything but rice, pasta, potatoes or toilet paper, would you?

Yeah I guess the argument should be for how many times a week people are shopping, not what they're buying and snooping in trollies.

I mean bread ok, but cake too profligate? People need to stay sane and enjoy their day too, even if just cooking/eating/drinking something nice.

I say that having bought several bottles of single malt and numerous snack delicacies to accompany #burnthewitch

Imagine what three months in confinement eating pasta and sauce would do to your average Brit these days.

Anarchy would finally manifest itself upon the streets.

What about biscuits? That essential enough? And where does that leave Jaffa cakes?

Plain digestives and rich tea ok, nothing with topping or filling, including chipped chocolate.

You're not allowed to smile whilst eating them either, but should adopt a supine posture staring at the floor.

Scottish Shortbread?

Fuck this Stasi shit. I've ran out of Campari.

Imagine what three months in confinement eating pasta and sauce would do to your average Brit these days.

It’s possible to die from constipation?

More and more, I get the impression that some people are misunderstanding the current situation as "make life as miserable as possible for everybody, and if you manage to still have any fun, you're doing something morally wrong".

Yes, I get that the situation sucks for a whole lot of people, be it overworked healthcare workers, people having to go to work with lacking (or no) protection, people who've lost part or all of their income, and of course last but absolutely not least the people actually sick or dying of the damn virus, and their family / friends etc. It certainly is not a happy time for a lot of people.

But no, this does not mean that everybody has to be miserable to show solidarity. If you can have fun in a way that is not a big risk to others - be it baking cakes, going for a solo cycle, or knitting -, that is fine. FFS.

mostly from lycra chaingangs

Yes, although the Lycra lot do respect the official guidance of cycling alone or with one friend. It´s just that they leave barely any room when overtaking. The trouble with couples on sit up and beg bikes is that they refuse to break their abreast formation for anybody who wishes to overtake them.

(Ik moest onbeschoft opzoeken omdat ik geen Brabander en zelfs geen Vlaming ben...)

I've eaten 8 Magnum ice creams in the last 2 days, soon I'll be too fat to leave the house even if I wanted to.

But officer, the guardian said the za'atar was essential for my Ottolenghi recipe.

this, indeed. enforcers (are getting bored and) gonna enforce... :-/

Ik moest onbeschoft opzoeken

is toch zeker geen specifiek Vlaams of Brabants woord ;-)

yes especially the elderly e-bikers with hearing aids in all ears... shouting 'ring your bell' at you when you've already done so 4 times... not ever going to change probably.