Scarlet Pimpernel

6 minutes ago, Baltimorewx said:

I guess you can’t do tacos without margs...I wasn’t gonna drink tonight but my dad dropped this off so oh well lol

Man, I should camp out on your steps, so the next time someone drops booze off to you, I can grab-and-go!!  Curb side service!! 

Joking, of course...well, maybe!  But that looks quite tasty, now I want a margarita!  And it is cool that someone dropped those other beers off to you before, too!

41 minutes ago, Baltimorewx said:

I got beer’ed. I belong to a brotherhood of Baltimore county beer travelers group on Facebook and someone just left this on my doorstep! 

At your place, isn't that kind of like bringing coals to Newcastle?? 

23 minutes ago, WxUSAF said:

After the beer I just drank, I’m now out except for one duclaw dessert porter. Looks like a curbside trip is on my list tomorrow.

Well...just make sure that you're not passed out ON the curb awaiting curbside pickup, wondering where the hell you're at or what you're doing there! 

1 minute ago, ErinInTheSky said:

Yeah, I think people feel a lot more comfortable outside (for whatever it's worth). I hope to god the people here who keep saying "I think outside is fine" are right.

I've gone out just for some walks or occasional bike rides.  Or to go take photos (I'm not far from the Audubon nature center).  But I'm pretty well by myself, not really around anyone unless I pass by them.  And for the most part, people tend to "cut a swath" around others.  But I'm not going to play sports or be in a large group.  I play in an alumni softball league, have for the past many summers (until I broke a finger during a game last July, dammit!).  I don't think we'll be playing this year at all, or if so, it will only be a handful of games.  They have a big tournament every August which is a lot of fun and quite the event...I suspect that won't be happening either.  It sucks, but that's how it is and I cannot blame them if they decide to essentially cancel this year.  (Side note:  it doubly sucks for me, because I was unable to play in last year's tournament due to said broken finger, LOL!!  I still went to enjoy the festivities and take pictures...and partake of the food and beer...however!).

39 minutes ago, wxtrix said:

social distancing was done in 1918.

the proven science about flattening the curve was first published in 2007.

flattening the curve, along with widespread testing and contact tracing was done in Mexico in 2009 for a short while (once it was determined that H1N1 was not more lethal than seasonal influenza).

flattening/testing/tracing have been successful in 2020 in other countries. 

why are you posting lies?

Exactly.  There's the somewhat "famous" plot of data from 1918, showing cases in Philadelphia vs. St. Louis.  It's clear what happened doing nothing vs. some measure of lock-down.  This is not something new, nor is it some conspiracy.  Quarantines have been around since...forever?

1 minute ago, C.A.P.E. said:

Happy hour has begun, so yes I have a new project to work on.

The most fun project of all!

1 minute ago, C.A.P.E. said:

Looks like my work day has just ended   started!!!

Fixed your post for ya!  Now get to work (on all that beer)!! 

1 minute ago, mappy said:

there have been many valid points from people who oppose the stay at home orders, they just aren't delivered well that invites debate. schools and kids risk is one of them. 

what you or i may deem too risky may not be the same for others, and i get it, and understand. but its just how things are right now. i dont enjoy being home day in and day out, my mental health is shit for sure because of it. but i keep abiding because i know overall those putting the guidelines in place are doing so with everyones best interest in mind. 

but i acknowledge that its easy for me to say that. we have the means to work from home, haven't missed a paycheck, bills still get paid, food on the table etc. we are lucky compared to many and i feel for those going through it. 

Agree, I know exactly where you're coming from.  Likewise, I don't (nor does anyone that I know of!) like being home day in and day out either, various things canceled, etc.  Like you, I consider myself fortunate to be in a place such that I can work from home and all that.  I don't appreciate some in here implying that either myself, or anyone else, just doesn't care or doesn't "get it" that many others are not in such good situations regarding work and paying bills and the like.  Really, there needs to be some kind of huge stimulus and debt forgiveness (or extension) for those that really need it, livable wage, sick leave, etc...but that's getting kind of political perhaps, and above my pay grade (LOL!).  I think PSU and a couple of others have hinted the same kinds of ideas for dealing with this.

2 minutes ago, mappy said:

i think his argument is that right now kids going to school isnt going to be super safe if the chance they get sick is high. hence him comparing to letting kid set of fireworks. 

 

Yup, that's the meaning I got out of what he said.  In addition, not just higher chance of kids getting sick...but even if they get it and are relatively symptom free or very minor ones, it can be spread to who knows how many others (e.g., adults, who are more susceptible, that kind of thing).

5 minutes ago, Yeoman said:

Worse yet are those parents foregoing check ups and immunizations for fear of going into the doctors office when there has been zero evidence of that being an issue. That's the next shoe to drop when kids start getting infections that they could have been immunized for, leading to yet another health crisis.

I think many regular doctors and dentists are encouraging patients...adults and children...to postpone the "regular" checkup type visits for now.  But of course they say feel free to come in if there's some significant issue, which makes sense.  Same for immunizations, they may not have regular visits, but they are encouraging pediatric patients to keep up on the vaccines.  Some doctors are offering video or remote consultation for routine things or concerns that may not be severe, that sort of thing.

You are probably right, there's likely a certain level of fear I'm sure some people have of going in or taking their kid in, right now.

16 minutes ago, DCTeacherman said:

Yeah he pictures everyone on here are like wealthy attorneys just vacationing from home laughing about the lockdowns maniacally 

Just like Dr. Evil!!

2 minutes ago, mappy said:

I thought I had heard they would be canceled completely. 

 

Yeah, I'm not totally sure, I've heard a couple of different things concerning those exams.  Guess I'll find out in the next couple weeks!

5 minutes ago, DCTeacherman said:

IMO it’s a money grab by the college board, they’re not going to have proctors or cameras, a student could easily have a parent, older brother, etc, help them.  If they can’t ensure it’s a true secure test they should’ve cancelled it. 

Yeah, I've never been a big fan of SAT or that sort of thing, really.

1 minute ago, PhineasC said:

This is so tone deaf.

30 million people have lost their jobs or had hours cut. Businesses are not free to open, employees are not free to go to work.

I really think some of you are OK with the lockdowns because they are not affecting you at all.

You really have no place making such a statement...about me, or anyone else.  Talk about tone deaf.

18 minutes ago, Yeoman said:

Apologies.. 22 dead out of 684 for those 50 and under, most of which had underlying conditions.. my calculator doesn't have enough space for all the zeros after the decimal. 

Surely your calculator can handle one zero after the decimal.  As in 0.03216.  Which is a little over 3%.  But that's just like the flu (not)!

14 minutes ago, psuhoffman said:

Another overtly political post with absolutely no substantive content.  

And I don’t expect much change in numbers.  Right now, in many places, people aren’t really acting like it’s a lockdown already.  I have my doubts that a critical mass of the population isn’t already behaving in a way that neutralizes or at least muted the effectiveness of the current policies.  Imo we have already seen the impact of that with the flattening but very slow decline or in some places even a continued slow increase.  If we went back to completely open with no altered behaviors at all we probably would see a sudden spike.  But if the “opening” happening looks not that substantialy different from what was actually happening the last 1-2 weeks why would the numbers change? The virus doesn’t care what we call the policy.  The ground truth isn’t actually changing much.  

 

Yeah, we hardly have a true "lock-down" (a'la Wuhan style).  More just a suppression of activity.  Are we barred from going outside to get some nice air, go for a ride, hike, go to the supermarket, just drive around ...?  No.  Hardly a grotesque infringement on freedom here.  Not saying it doesn't suck, but unusual times and all that.  It won't stop those who are convinced it's all a government ploy to take everything from you,  or that "they" just want an excuse to make this all permanent, etc., etc.  Or that a mask is repressing their right to...I'm not sure what.  How many people who believe that were OK with the stringent security measures taken in the aftermath of September 11?  But hey, that was mostly targeting "certain people", so maybe it was OK and patriotic (that was snark).

2 minutes ago, mappy said:

I dont know how they send kids back safely. I just don't think its possible. We shall see how this week goes with daily virtual class time and the request to send back completed work. My kid was super excited to have an hour of Specials today. Gym, art, music and library all together for an hour. She needs the face to face interaction as much as us adults do. 

Definitely, agree on needing some kind of "face time" like that.

I found out that AP exams apparently will occur this year (my daughter taking 2 such classes).  From what I gather, they'll allow "open book/notes" and that sort of thing...kind of hard to enforce "closed book" remotely!...but there will obviously be time limits on completing various sections.  So sure, maybe you can Google all you want for some essay, but you might run out of time if you overdo that!  I guess that's about the best option here for that, otherwise, they'd never get AP exams at all this year (similarly for SAT and such, I imagine).

1 minute ago, mappy said:

K-12 schools are probably a huge incubator and spreader as well. Still dont see kids going back to buildings this academic year. I'm guessing MD will make a call later this week as their current learning from home end date is May 15th 

I'm pretty much working under the assumption that MD won't be going back "in person" the remainder of this academic year.  Even if Hogan et al. decide to do some amount of "re-opening".  As for next year...hard to say at this point, of course.  And yeah, agree we'll likely hear something end of this week on a decision about that May 15 date.

23 minutes ago, mappy said:

i dont agree with a threat of arrest over protesting. As long as they were protesting safely. Not sure a lawsuit is the answer though. 

Oh, I get that...I was only mentioning who Cox is, the name was familiar to me from that Congressional race in 2016.

Agree, if they were protesting *safely*, threat of arrest is overkill (as is a lawsuit over that).

3 minutes ago, wxtrix said:

what did the government force you to eat for dinner last night?

Forced to eat government cheese, perhaps? 

1 hour ago, mappy said:

yeah, was all over the local news this weekend. Hogan's team responded by saying most Marylanders don't even know who Cox is 

 

I seem to recall Cox is the tea-party type who ran against Jamie Raskin for the House seat in 2016 (8th Cong. district, to fill VanHollen's seat when he moved into the Senate).  Raskin won in a landslide, not surprisingly.  I'm in Raskin's district, myself.

1 hour ago, DCTeacherman said:

This post should be printed out and brought to our elected leaders as proof that our education system has failed miserably.  It’s sad that people are this confused. 

Sadly, many of our current elected leaders are proof that our education system...or at least their understanding of governance and the Constitution...has failed miserably!!

Yesterday was gorgeous out.  Went for a walk at the Audubon nature center (not far from me) and took several photos.

Here's a hawk that was circling for long enough to get a good shot:

And an ever-elusive cardinal:

2 hours ago, mappy said:

You’re free to leave

Made me think of "Kung Fu Panda"...

"You are free to eat..."

"Am I?'

"Are you??"

4 minutes ago, mappy said:

Yup. But the problem is if we close it, it’s just gonna spill into banter because people can’t help themselves. I’d rather it be in a thread that people can avoid if they don’t feel like reading heated debates

What we really need to do is covertly create a "winter medium range" thread.  That way, all useless banter and sniping will magically transfer over there!  Just like it did this past season!

(That was dark snark, by the way!)

5 minutes ago, PhineasC said:

In the huge span of this global disease, kids don't die from COVID-19 AT ALL. Yes, there are reports of a tiny, tiny handful of deaths in kids with a positive COVID test. I know you are a super pedantic and specific person and to you this means "kids die from this virus too!" Most others here know exactly what I meant.

Way to move goal posts from "young people" (which I'd take to imply anyone under about 30) to "kids" (which would imply minors only). And also just state things out of hand as fact while accusing others of being pedantic. Whatever. I don't think anyone argues who is more at risk and what age groups. But even younger people, it may not be so negligible a number as thought. And it's still higher than "just the flu". Plenty of younger people have other health or immune issues that can make them more at risk.