fujiwara79

39 minutes ago, WhitinsvilleWX said:

I’ve been in Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Market 32, Wegmans, Cumberland Farms, local hardware stores, etc. Never had one word said to me by store personnel. Not once. We went to a local independently owned restaurant with another couple last weekend. Walked in without one, stayed 2 hours, and walked out without one. Once the state lifts the mandates it’s over. Except for federal property and airlines of course. 

having a policy and enforcing a policy are two different things.  i've never seen anyone enforce a mask mandate, whether it be a state employee or a store employee.  doesn't matter.  as long as big businesses continue to have those policies on the books, a majority of people will wear masks.  their mask policies are a business decision anyway.  they saw that fewer people were coming into their stores because they didn't want to be with the anti-maskers, so they enacted these policies last spring and summer.

7 hours ago, radarman said:

 

For what it's worth I've been in the DFW area all week and even without mask requirements for quite a while now, the vast majority of folks are wearing them inside retail stores, entering/exiting restaurants and coffee shops, inside hotel lobbies and businesses, universities, etc.  Only when you get far afield of the populated areas do you see masks disappearing.  So even if the requirement goes away the masks will probably remain.

you do realize that virtually all the big box retailers, restaurant chains, airlines, etc. have their own mask policy that has nothing to do with state mandates?  wal-mart and costco required masks for shoppers way before most states mandated it.  even as states remove those mandates, most large businesses will continue requiring them for the remainder of 2021 and perhaps well into 2022.

it's definitely much easier to find a vaccine now.  a couple of months ago, landing an appointment was like striking oil; not anymore.

31 minutes ago, radarman said:

My personal dietary habits that you have no clue about aside, should one not also be worried about these things in food?   

yes, i think you should be.  and if you are, then you are logically consistent and i have no qualms.  

1 hour ago, radarman said:

I think you could make the case that a hesitance to ingest unknown substances is biologically defensible.

go read the ingredients for most of the preservative-laden or chemical-laden food items in the grocery store.  or any type of fast food.  you're ingesting "unknown substances" every day.  lots of cognitive dissonance with this particular argument.

1 hour ago, Rvarookie said:

my only angst of getting vaccine is to not disrupt my body chemistry. 

I hope you don't eat fast food or any of the preservative-laden foods from the grocery store.  that stuff changes your body chemistry far more than a vaccine will.

Mobility data has shown that people have been moving around at nearly pre-pandemic levels.  People being afraid to leave their house is so April 2020.  Get with the times.

5 minutes ago, PhineasC said:

Many times. I have probably traveled more than anyone here since the pandemic started. If you can’t get a reservation to even a chain restaurant that is just like being turned away.

sorry, but no.  i've had trouble getting reservations for my preferred times to restaurants before covid.  happens all the time.  waiting an hour to get seated at oilve garden was commonplace on a saturday night but now you can walk right in.  keep raging, bro.

6 minutes ago, PhineasC said:

You are the guy arguing for WFH for all time so I doubt you go out much. 

okay, boomer.  you've got quite the social lifestyle given your 26k posts.

2 minutes ago, Lava Rock said:

Restaurants are 100% capacity in mass?

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk
 

the only 'restrictions' right now are international travel and mosh pits at concerts.  but the perpetually aggrieved and outraged will continue to complain about "lockdowns" ten years from now.  at this point it's part of their mental programming and now reflective of reality.

7 minutes ago, PhineasC said:

Many schools are still closed multiple days per week and restaurants/shops in many places have strict capacity and time restrictions. Leave your bubble and you’ll see. 

how many times recently have you been refused entry at a restaurant because of capacity limits?  keep feigning that faux outrage.

3 minutes ago, Wmsptwx said:

That’s why I don’t understand when we have the constant “open it back up” stuff here when literally nothing is closed. Schools are open, restaurants are open, movie theaters are open and gyms are open. What is still closed? We seem to be one of the most liberal countries when it comes to opening up activities and venues.

It's because, when they look at their calendars, they still think it's April 2020 instead of April 2021.  they likely haven't left their house in a year and thus haven't realized things are open.

14 minutes ago, OSUmetstud said:

There was a 19% increase in accidental death due mainly due to overdose last year. The increase was far higher than the background trend. 

We can argue why those happened. But mental health has gotten considerably worse during the pandemic. Maybe it's the fear of the virus...maybe it's the negative media...maybe it's the lockdowns. But either way the other ways people suffer during this thing can't be cast aside. 

i think the pandemic exacerbated it, but drug overdoses have been going up for 20 years.  they've quadrupled since 1999.  suicides have likewise been increasing since 2000.  the pandemic is not a root cause of these things, but rather an exacerbating factor.  the same people who bring up mental health now, didn't bring them up before the pandemic.  it's an argument of convenience for them.

suicides and drug abuse were going up for years before the pandemic.  extreme wealth inequality and social media are the leading causes.

just wait until the cruise lines require vaccinations.  the anti-vaxxers are going to be in quite a conundrum.  they love those cheap $500 all-you-can-eat carribean cruises.

doesn't covid itself cause blood clots in a significant number of people?

9 minutes ago, dta1984 said:

Oddly enough, this is a very true statement regarding alot of things that are going on with our country.  The msm creates and fuels the outrage.

if you include fox news, new york post, oann and newsmax as part of the 'msm', i would totally agree.  it's not just cnn and msnbc, dude.  turn it all off.

9 minutes ago, PhineasC said:

 

The cool part is even if they lift mask mandates, you guys can just keep wearing them and no one will care! That's pretty awesome, right? Personal choice is amazing.

true.  you also have the choice to drive or shop online if following rules aren't your thing.  choice has many dimensions.

25 minutes ago, PhineasC said:

Many things out there don't make sense to me anymore. I think more and more people are looking around at all the weird, inconsistent rules and tweaked-out people scurrying about and coming to the same conclusion. Definitely some surreal moments to be had, like watching a group of depressed-looking people in masks shuffle forward in a queue between x marks on the carpet as a booming voice on the intercom tells them to ensure their masks are on properly at all times or they will be "removed from the premises for their own safety and the safety of others."

It's kinda dystopian out there, TBH. I think a subset of the population is actually really enjoying this in a twisted way. They sure seem to get upset at anyone questioning it.

stay mad, bro

27 minutes ago, dta1984 said:

Lol are you for real?  His flip flopping tendencies speak for themselves.  

about turning off cable news?  yes, turn them off.  you are outraged because they want you to be outraged.

2 minutes ago, dta1984 said:

People wonder why there's so much mistrust, what a clown. 

you really have to turn off cable news and get away from the outrage machine.  mistrust is perpetuated by those outlets and you are part of the ecosystem by watching it.  turn it off.

yes, you can get covid after getting vaccinated.  so if 100 million have been vaccinated and its 95% effective, we should expect 5 million of those people to still get covid.  i think the idea is that the vaccines keep things manageable.

variants are going to be problematic for a few years, because parts of the world probably won't get fully vaccinated until later in 2022, and who knows what new variants will come from places with uncontrolled spread.

9 hours ago, TimB84 said:

Wouldn’t it be ironic if a bunch of businesses moved to Florida and Texas for things conservatives like, such as low taxes and warm climates, then brought in a bunch of young, educated, liberal talent and flipped 67 electoral votes in the process?

that already happened in georgia and arizona.  it's going to happen to nc shortly.  and it'll probably happen to texas in ten years.  people's political leanings these days are correlated to their age (generation) and education levels.

18 hours ago, nwohweather said:

Wrong. Companies are moving along with their people en masse down to the South. How do I know this? Because I’m one of those people lol and so are many of my friends. The sun belt migration is on full bore here.

Talent wants to live in cool places with nice weather, it’s why Nashville, Charlotte, Charleston, Atlanta, Birmingham, Tampa, Austin, Dallas are absolutely exploding. Then factor in that these companies are moving factories here to avoid unions and opening up downtown offices for their white collar personnel in a more business tax friendly climate. Cap that off with a more friendly weather climate and you’ve got a boomtown.

Sorry about the OT rant, feel free to delete Hoosier

it's mostly because real estate is cheaper down there, not because they're "cool places with nice weather".  i know many people who moved to atlanta, dallas and charlotte after living in the northeast cities or chicago.   the only reason was to buy a single family house without spending two million dollars.  otherwise they find the vibe down there pretty boring in comparison.

20 hours ago, PhineasC said:

You sound very typical to me. Deal with guys like you all the time.

I hope you are a very technical high-performer. If so, you are absolutely staying in-character as expected and your boss is perfectly happy with you and understands you. Most top engineers and technicians think exactly like you. Good bosses are used to this and it is not a problem. That's basically 80% of my staff.

If not, I would suggest looking over your shoulder. Your job isn't secure if that is the attitude you bring to the table in basically any non-technical field, or if you are in a technical field and just a so-so performer.

yes, I am.  but I would argue that a flexible work environment and being able to WFH is what enables me to be a high performer.  the office is a terrible place for getting actual work done, man.

my guess is you're an older gen-Xer or a boomer.  they perceive people who WFH as anti-social or lazy.  i'm fully aware that, in a hybrid environment, people are going  to discriminate in favor of people who they see in the office more.  that's not going to change until these older generations retire from management.  thats why i encourage people to periodically go into the office, because they have to manage perceptions and optics.  they have to manage their manager, basically.  

16 hours ago, IWXwx said:

From the multiple studies I've read, the gym is not a high risk location for spread IF they strictly adhere to distancing and masks mandates.  Otherwise, it's a free-for-all.

I think lifting weights and stuff like that hasn't shown much spread.  i've heard exercise classes have been the source of numerous outbreaks though.  which kind of makes sense.  10 people in the same room with poor ventilation, huffing and puffing while doing zumba, doesn't sound ideal.