Scarlet Pimpernel

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. 

4 minutes ago, WxWatcher007 said:

I do it all  

Not looking too bad in a modest heel, there!

1 hour ago, WxWatcher007 said:

Seems like just yesterday when I jumped to the Great Beyond and hung up my own shingle to help other weenies let go too. 

After looking at this run a few times, I noticed the high-heel shoes!!  

Couple of photos from the America Strong flyover by the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds.  This was right near Walter Reed Medical Center.  Taken at 300mm focal length, then cropped.

43 minutes ago, WxWatcher007 said:

I forget that some of you have known each other for more than a decade. I’ve been here seven years

Time flies.

And hard to believe that many years ago the Panic Room was but a gleam in the eye-socket of the Reaper's skull!

12 minutes ago, Baltimorewx said:

I haven’t got back on the horse yet lol. Thought I was today but eh, maybe tomorrow haha. I just can’t recover like I used to from a heavy night of boozing 

I know, right???  I remember long ago in college, one would know what day of the week it was by the particular specials they had at this place across from the graduate housing I lived in at the time (called "The Pub"...so imaginative!).  Usually had those Thu-Fri-Sat-Sun, and usually it was for crap beer.  But hey, you're in college, so who cares right?!  Not that I went every night, mind you.  That's my story, and I'm sticking to it! 

35 minutes ago, WxWatcher007 said:

 

On vacation. See you in December. 
 

You need to open early, at least just for Ji!  He'll be squatting outside, waiting for his usual room, shortly after Halloween! 

32 minutes ago, Baltimorewx said:

The pup is 5 years old today, we’ve had her for over 2 years now. Long story short, she’s not a rescue per say, but she was a dog that was being used as a breed dog by a relatively large breeder so we kind of count it as a rescue even though we paid. She’s living the good life now with her doggy approved donut. 

Very cute!!

Just now, H2O said:

Because it was full of tiny wieners?  Right in his wheelhouse

Oh......

.

.

.

......my!

51 minutes ago, H2O said:

Mrs. Js looks better

Gotta say, that...thing...you posted earlier had a @ravensrule joke written all over it!

1 hour ago, Mrs.J said:

Not sure why they have that name but they have a whole can of Hershey's syrup (which I grew up calling Chocolate Dope, it is an OH thing) in them and nuts. To die for! 

Iowa Brownies

Texas Sheet Cake

Ahhh, thank you for taking our minds off that abomination posted earlier!

1 hour ago, Mrs.J said:

Making some grilled Mustard Potato salad to go with Brats and Kraut tonight right now. It is a new recipe but wanted a more German style taste. Has a lot of vinegar in it. 

And thankfully, no Vienna sausages or Spaghetti-os involved!!

5 minutes ago, WxWatcher007 said:

Yeah, it’s outrageous. We need you @Mrs.J!

I cannot wait to hear what she would have to say about that..."recipe"!!

(Then hopefully post a photo of something really good!)

23 minutes ago, H2O said:

yum

I just...no, not going there...

There are no words!