The Lockdown Diaries (3)

Because I’m generous, an open thread, in which to share links and bicker.

I’ll set the ball rolling with scenes of lockdown enforcement in what appears to be North Yorkshire. 

Oh, and this. 

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It helps to keep this place here.

For those in need of further diversion, the Reheated series is there to be poked at. 

Comments

[David]

Our progressive betters.

That sound you hear is rapid-onset brain shrinkage.

[David]

And for those with an interest in such things, The Other Half is minimising his exposure to my charms by playing Cities: Skylines, in which you build a city, develop its infrastructure and economy, and try to avoid public discontent and a mass exodus when things go badly wrong. I, meanwhile, am passing time with Hades’ Star, a space-empire strategy game that unfolds over months and in which you build colonies and retrieve artefacts from about-to-explode star systems, collaborating with other players, while dealing with the decidedly hostile Cerberus forces.

[WTP]

Our progressive betters

From the replies:

Replying to
@MrAndyNgo
I hate to break this to people, but this is not an uncommon set of beliefs within the world of America academia, which affects and influences hundreds of thousands of students and other Americans annually. I truly hope nobody thinks this guy is an outlier. He is not.

More of the continuing series of things I have been trying to tell people for decades now. Nice to see the point is finally getting some traction now that it's likely too late.

[David]

Nice to see the point is finally getting some traction now that it’s likely too late.

It’s also worth noting just how often these creatures, these grown adults, sound like pouting adolescents.

[Sam Duncan]

“The Other Half is minimising his exposure to my charms by playing Cities: Skylines,”

Great game. Highly recommended to anyone who ever liked SimCity.

You need a pretty beefy rig to run it, though. When it came out five years ago, I had a low-end AMD FX4100 with 4Gb of RAM and it was fine (at least up to a city of about 100k, which is more than enough to “win” the game, passing the milestones and unlocking all the buildings and monuments), but nowadays, having upgraded both CPU and memory, my old saves just grind to a halt. I wish they'd make older versions available for those of us who don't care about compatibilty with mods and DLC.

[WTP]

these grown adults, sound like pouting adolescents.

Oh, it's not just a leftist phenomenon. The absolute crap I am going through trying to keep my HOA functional, our pool open, our contractors doing their jobs. I try very, very hard to keep things as non obtrusive as possible and still maintain the community, and the absolute crap I get from certain 'conservative' types and especially the so-called libertarians is disgusting. Vented a little about this on Ace of Spades and I got called all kinds of dirty fascist names and such. Yet most of the crap is lawyer driven. But no one gives a crap. Everyone wants their property values high, everyone wants this that and the other thing, but no one wants to TAKE SOME ADULT RESPONSIBILITY for the world we live in. Sorry. I'm trying to keep myself limited to two drinks a day, four days a week and this crap has got to come out somewhere. It's f-n exhausting at times.

[David]

Great game. Highly recommended to anyone who ever liked SimCity.

It’s keeping him quiet, which is the main thing.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Our progressive betters.

"...The economy is reborn like a phoenix from the ashes as a socialist economy..." Ashes turning into more ashes is an interesting concept, but, TBF, easy to implement for their limited skill sets, so I guess they could say they kept their promises.

OTOH, is there some sort of contest to see what police force can do the most asinine and embarrassing thing ?

[David]

It’s f-n exhausting at times.

Perhaps a snack would help.

[ Nods to display shelf behind bar, on which a thoroughly fingered sausage roll slowly decays. ]

[WTP]

Nods to display shelf behind bar, on which a thoroughly fingered sausage roll slowly decays.

Well, you did wash your hands, right? On second thought, I don't really wanna know anymore.

[Connor]

I, meanwhile, am passing time with Hades’ Star,

Battery or laser? (On Level 63, red star 4.)

[WTP]

is there some sort of contest to see what police force can do the most asinine and embarrassing thing ?

Well, there appears to be some sort of contest of teh stupid going on in that milieu.

https://nypost.com/2020/04/03/malibu-paddleboarder-arrested-for-violating-stay-at-home-order/

[David]

Battery or laser?

Heh. I suppose it depends on how upgraded your modules are, your preferred tactics, the star type you’re playing in, and the level at which you’re playing. That’s part of the fun. The tactics and weapons that work in one level, or in one type of star system, may not work so well, or at all, in another. You have to try things and adapt.

I opted for laser and dual laser (currently upgraded to level 7), partly because it looked good, and on Red Star 5 and 6, they work pretty well against Colossus ships, especially if you arm transports and miners with missiles. Dual laser becomes more important as you progress and the density of Cerberus forces increases. Whether my current set-up will work so well on Red Star 7, I couldn’t say.

Whatever you choose, it all gets a bit hairy.

[Darleen]

Barman!!!! Hot Toddies all around!!

[pst314]

Barman!!!! Hot Toddies all around!!

I'll have my coronavirus cure in this brandy snifter, thank you.

[David]

Barman!!!! Hot Toddies all around!!

[ Returns bearing tray of hot toddies, arranged in a circle around a familiar sausage roll. ]

[Steve E]

Our progressive betters.

I question his revolutionary cred. A real revolutionary would be wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt.

[pst314]

[ Returns bearing tray of hot toddies, arranged in a circle around a familiar sausage roll. ]

If you're going to offer me that sausage roll then it is historically appropriate to also offer a last tot of rum.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

We haven't had art for a while.

[Steve E]

We haven't had art for a while.

I'm an artist at last!

I spent 10 years from age 12 to 22 in the tire business. I created similar installments in warehouses, barns and dumps. He's clearly a beginner finding his way with the passenger tire medium. I had progressed to include truck, bus and farm tires in my palette.

[David]

We haven’t had art for a while.

I did like the phrase, deployed in response, “a lethal injection of tiresome.”

[Jim Whyte]

That Kumho TA11 on the right - just in front of the guy with his arm raised - is totally ruining the composition. He should move it a little further back, or else replace it with a P195/65R15.

[Jonathan]

The Critical Drinker watches Alien Covenant so you don't have to....

Yeah, I know, it's three years late but at least it's fresher than that sausage roll David keeps trying to palm us off with.

[David]

The Critical Drinker watches Alien Covenant so you don’t have to....

Heh. I was watching that earlier.

[Charlie Suet]

What’s driving me up the wall at the moment is the plethora of comments on social media and so on that basically follow this pattern:

1) Identify some activity that is not against the rules presently laid out, but involves being outside in some way that might temporarily help stave off mental and physical disintegration
2) Shriek loudly that the people engaging in this activity are being really stupid and irresponsible, based on your own entirely ignorant assessment rather than the considered advice of epidemiologists, who have spent years studying this sort of scenario and (latterly) the virus itself (what happened to trusting the experts, again?)
3) Buttress your uninformed bullying of law-abiding people by reference to some unpleasant anecdote, such as the number of deaths, or what a horrible time some acquaintance or family member working for the Glorious and Irreproachable NHS has had. Be sure to act as if you’re divulging some sort of new information and that anyone who doesn’t do as you do is acting out of pure ignorance, even malice.

Step three is even worse when it comes from frontline medical staff themselves. It’s a bit like negative commentary from an infantryman on Normandy Beach on D-Day and Eisenhower. Difficult for the civilian to disagree with openly, but in reality based on emotion and a very human sense of fear, as opposed to any reference to the overall facts or any attempt to think strategically.

Throughout this time there has been an unpleasantly vocal section of society that has bayed for the strictest possible procedures as early as possible, without ever considering what the negative results might be. Mass decline in mental and physical health? Even worse economic ruin than we’re experiencing? Enormous and dangerous developments in panic-buying? The lockdown itself being unsuccessful due to mass disobedience? Nah - Cousin Sue has a horrid time at her job, so everyone must do what I reckon is correct.

I think the precautionary principle, like naive socialism, is one of those things that people just instinctively reach for (and always will), no matter how often those who can do abstract thinking point out the flaws in the reasoning.

[David]

[ Nudges sausage roll towards Jonathan. ]

[Jonathan]

Nudges sausage roll towards Jonathan.

Mummy, I'm frightened.

[Jonathan]

Again, I know I'm late to the party but I'm quite enjoying watching 'Professor T'. Somewhat formulaic, but quite fun.

[WTP]

Throughout this time there has been an unpleasantly vocal section of society that has bayed for the strictest possible procedures as early as possible, without ever considering what the negative results might be.

Nailed it. Feeling every ounce of all of that but I have an additionally infuriating factor..I have friends who spent their youth coming to school baked, never paying attention in class, buried their faces in snow, cavorted with whores, did crack, drove not just tipsy but blind-ass drunk and laughed about it, etc. who now are screaming at me about how irresponsible I am being for going out to pick up dinner from a restaurant (one run by a guy I've gotten to know real well because I generally go there about 4 times a year) or keep my community's pool open.. I am sick of these assholes. And yes, don't get me started on the medical 'experts' who want to scream at me about how lethal this virus is but are too far above me in intellect to have a discussion about probabilities and statistics and such.

[Steve E]

[...]but quite fun.

Agreed. Haven't we all wanted to be that person who says what he's thinking, leaving pissed off or gobsmacked people in his wake.

The only way I can watch this is on PBS broadcast television and it's on at such strange hours I often miss it, that and I'm too lazy to use the PVR.

[Captain Nemo]

21st century naval "battle" of note:

https://twitter.com/Canocola/status/1246364316355514368

[TimT]

Throughout this time there has been an unpleasantly vocal section of society that has bayed for the strictest possible procedures as early as possible, without ever considering what the negative results might be. Mass decline in mental and physical health?

Similar in Australia. It’s been extraordinary to see open borders lefties become extremists for the exact opposite, and hector everyone else loudly and swearily to ‘Stay the fuck at home’ - and even going so far as to dob on neighbours who flout the regulations.

It’s looking more and more like the west has made a mistake in following the quarantine system devised by one of the most extreme authoritarian regimes on the planet. It’s perfect for China: for the west, not so much.

Short term I think it’s wise for us to abide by the quarantine regulations but only grudgingly, with the understanding that they be removed as shortly as possible.

[WTP]

It’s perfect for China: for the west, not so much.

Well here's yet another thing pissing me off. I'm seeing people "pointing out" how "well" these quarantines worked FOR ITALY AND CHINA!!!!!11!! But somehow South Korea (and others?) have NOT gone to this extreme yet has/have better numbers THAN ITALY AND CHINA. Sometimes I don't think I'm gonna survive this. Not because of the stupid virus but because of the stupid.

[Squires]

21st century naval "battle" of note

The angle I heard was that the order to intercept that particular civilian vessel came down from Maduro. Something about him being paranoid and seeing mercenaries after his head behind every bush these days. Can’t imagine why that would be.

[Hal]

The Critical Drinker watches Alien Covenant so you don't have to....

Oh, Prometheus and Prometheus^2(1) are actually quite extremely viewable . . . Gioven that what one does is to note that both have utterly gorgeous cinematography---'cause Ridley Scott---.

Therefore, what one must do is to take both of them and a handy data storage medium, chop both into all the assorted scenes, or even just into all the assorted camera cuts and any fades. Next, drop all that collection of clips into some sort of randomizer. Finally, with everything being quite well mixed, then proceed to play through the scrambled results, either with the sound turned off or something swapped in for an alternate soundtrack, and thus quite enjoy all those really well done visuals . . .

It could be a sort of Syd Mead book put into animation . . .

(1) Yes, so Prometheus is utter and entirely absolute crap---with gorgeous cinematography---'cause Ridley Scott---, and then with the next one even managing to be even more utterly and absolutely unsalvagebly worse, that next one is clearly thus not Prometheus II, it is definitely instead Prometheus Squared . . . .

[Hal]

It’s keeping him quiet, which is the main thing.

And I'd been thinking of y'all as being a much more traditional couple . . .

[TimT]

I'm seeing people "pointing out" how "well" these quarantines worked FOR ITALY AND CHINA!!!!!11!! But somehow South Korea (and others?) have NOT gone to this extreme yet has/have better numbers THAN ITALY AND CHINA.

Yes. It points to utter desperation and lack of preparation on the part of the western democracies. And we’ll suffer for it.

[Chester Draws]

At least Italy and China were, in places, in difficulty. Lockdowns made some kind of sense.

New Zealand went into lockdown before the first death.

We're now being told that we are going to eliminate it entirely. Left untold is:
a) how stupid that is going to be if it doesn't work -- full lockdown in order to save no lives.
b) how long is it before our borders open again. If the rest of the world still has it, we can't go to them and they can't come to us. Potentially for years.

It might work if a vaccine or cure arrives quickly. But this is one hell of a gamble, because many vaccines are not 100% effective. Nearly 10% of Kiwis work in tourism, and China is our major market, so that's a tenth of economy sunk.

And when the next bad 'flu arrives and starts bumping people off, are we going to do it again every couple of years?

[Darleen]

An absolute thing of beauty.

[Chester Draws]

It will be fascinating to see the MSM pivot on China. They don't want to side with Trump, so will feel they need to oppose his China bashing.

The Washington Post is running with "Don't blame 'China' for the coronavirus — blame the Chinese Communist Party". Because they are idiots who are so sure that Trump is racist that they won't recognise that there is no China without the CCP. That seems unwise to me, because the optics (and probably the reality) is that it makes it look like the WP are defending China.

Whoopi Goldberg is running with: Stop Blaming China: ‘Mother Nature Did This To Us’. Yeah, that'll wash. How come Mother Nature never attacks us from Belguim, Denmark, Australia?

But they can't help themselves. They keep publishing the official Chinese CV19 numbers, even as everyone -- and at this point it is pretty close to everyone -- knows they are bunkum. Why would you make yourself look foolish like that?

But most of all, I'm really looking forward to Biden clarifying some of his previous statements and actions with regard to China.

[pst314]

It will be fascinating to see the MSM pivot on China. They don't want to side with Trump, so will feel they need to oppose his China bashing.

I'm sure that some of them secretly favor a Chinese-style tyranny anyway. I've certainly known enough leftists who made that pretty clear.

[Governor Squid]

I'm sure that some of them secretly favor a Chinese-style tyranny anyway.

You are such a generous soul.

[Rick]

[ Returns bearing tray of hot toddies, arranged in a circle around a familiar sausage roll. ]

Would you be offended if I upped my medicinal dose to 140 Proof and dropped the oft-disdained sausage roll in it before consumption?

[pst314]

You are such a generous soul.

What could be more respectful than to call people by their correct names?

[fnord]

I think the precautionary principle, like naive socialism, is one of those things that people just instinctively reach for (and always will), no matter how often those who can do abstract thinking point out the flaws in the reasoning

If you quote the precautionary principle to me then I just reply that there is a nonzero possibility that you are going to kill me and that I am justified in shooting you dead.

[Richard]

Re enforcement in North Yorkshire - to this US person, Great Britain wackos seem vastly more interesting than our wackos. What do you think of this observation? Enquiring minds could probably care less but I, I am interested.