What on Earth is going on in the world today? It's gone mad

[tented]

Wow. That's actually quite frightening in itself.

Isn’t it? I’m surprised neither the liberal (MSNBC) nor the conservative (Fox) news channels are listed. It’s as if the powers that be in the US have decided not to discuss it at all.

 

[britbox]

Isn’t it? I’m surprised neither the liberal (MSNBC) nor the conservative (Fox) news channels are listed. It’s as if the powers that be in the US have decided not to discuss it at all.

It's largely the same with the UK media.

 

[Kieran]

They're all using the same catchphrase mate... and all saying that there is no return to the "old normal". Once you move on from the denial phase, it gets a whole lot easier. Alternatively, you can continue believing people who keep routinely lying to you. Remember the "good citizen" times of "flatten the curve", "30 day plan"...

I agree largely with this, and I'd hope I'm not in denial by saying I think this won't happen anytime soon. I definitely remember the old days of "flatten the curve" - now we believe in "flatten the whole country." Covid has definitely made for some strange narratives, and I venture softly between thinking politicians are just incompetent and cowardly in using sledgehammers to squash a virus, and thinking that maybe they really believe the vaccine posse will come swooping from beyond the mountain and bail them out...

 

[Horsa]

Mate, Bojo has already said there is no going back to "normal" and his catchphrase is "Build back better"... exactly the same as the mantra spouted by the WEF.
Ditto, Canada, US (Biden), NZ, EU...

Please don't say that. I really enjoyed the event planning side of my job. I also liked helping out with the over-60's group at work by getting them to sing. I enjoyed helping the historians teach Scots/Irish history through songs by singing the songs. I enjoyed singing Burns songs for Burns night at work. I really enjoyed being the Dickensian Carol Singer for the Dickensian Xmas Fair at work. I really enjoyed planning & conducting 1920's & 1940's sing-songs for 1920's & 1940's days at work. I also liked pottery workshops, mosaic making workshops, marbling workshops & ceramic & glass painting workshops at work. If we don't get back to normal I can't do that again. Only the week before the 1st lockdown I got told I was getting the job of planning & conducting a 1940's sing-song for a 1940's day on V.E. Day. As well as the archival training, research tasks, quilting & knitting tasks & the research & report-writing task on equine history & reading the book-club book which was "Mill on the Floss". during the 1st lockdown I planned for & practised for the V.E. Day sing-song I never got to do in the hope we would be back to normal by then. Well, I do have a dreamy & imaginative side.

 

[Kieran]

Please don't say that. I really enjoyed the event planning side of my job. I also liked helping out with the over-60's group at work by getting them to sing. I enjoyed helping the historians teach Scots/Irish history through songs by singing the songs. I enjoyed singing Burns songs for Burns night at work. I really enjoyed being the Dickensian Carol Singer for the Dickensian Xmas Fair at work. I really enjoyed planning & conducting 1920's & 1940's sing-songs for 1920's & 1940's days at work. I also liked pottery workshops, mosaic making workshops, marbling workshops & ceramic & glass painting workshops at work. If we don't get back to normal I can't do that again. Only the week before the 1st lockdown I got told I was getting the job of planning & conducting a 1940's sing-song for a 1940's day on V.E. Day. As well as the archival training, research tasks, quilting & knitting tasks & the research & report-writing task on equine history & reading the book-club book which was "Mill on the Floss". during the 1st lockdown I planned for & practised for the V.E. Day sing-song I never got to do in the hope we would be back to normal by then. Well, I do have a dreamy & imaginative side.

These things will all come back, I'm sure. They tend to be on the nourishing side of life, and people do them independently of government interference, thankfully...

 

[Horsa]

These things will all come back, I'm sure. They tend to be on the nourishing side of life, and people do them independently of government interference, thankfully...

Thank you very much for the reassurance. I also loved teaching children how to make Xmas decorations at our normal Xmas Fair. There was a choir at work that I was in. I miss that too. I hope they come back. I was very lucky to work in heritage preservation & have arts, crafts & music as part of my job. I got some arts & crafts tasks given to do at home. They were ceramic painting, knitting & quilting.

I know how good creativity & singing are for you. I had to help give a talk on creativity once. Our choir master is always telling us how good singing is for us in many different ways. (I sing as part of the choir but he gets me singing solo & he sings duets with me sometimes. I thought being in a choir was about singing as a group. I didn't know you could be called on to sing solo or a duet.) I love the historic side of the job as it's fascinating but I enjoy the arts, crafts & musical side too.

 

[calitennis127]

Bye bye to social distancing. The hypocrisy is breathtaking:

 

[Federberg]

 

[Chris Koziarz]

Wow I didn't know flights were already so full...
But I guess the airlines ESP the budget ones, must be full otherwise they are unprofitable thus cannot exist with proper covid distancing in long run

 

[Chris Koziarz]

All ground public transport though, atleast in my country, still runs at most half-full, with every second seat marked with green dot and "no dot no go" motto. Surprisingly, the crowds are thin enough to comply, perhaps some level of fear is there to keep things legal, otherwise I don't believe they would graciously give up their ride and politely queue up for the next train/bus if demand overwhelmed green dot supply

 

[tented]

I would not have been able to show the restraint this man did.

 

[Chris Koziarz]

The maddest chapter in the history of US politics is coming to a close. I like the artists who know how to LOL at it

 

[Chris Koziarz]

Well it's not over yet: t-man's prepared a batch of some 140 presidential pardons to his friends. The batch appears to be his last act in POTUS office.
Apparently, the informed anonymous aide say, he decided to hold off the masturbatory movement of his pardoning pen, and do not issue a self-pardon: personal lawyers convinced him that such masturbation would equal to admitting to the crimes he committed. Thank you guys (whoever you are) for deterring him from this disgusting act (one less gut wrenching act we need to endure from this president).

 

[Federberg]

I tell you what... I'm not going to Beijing for a while!

China begins using anal swabs to test for Covid in Beijing

Beijing is using anal swabs to test its residents for coronavirus - a method some experts say is more accurate. Swabs are inserted about an inch and rotated several times.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[tented]

Must-see interview concerning the source of the virus:

 

[Federberg]

Must-see interview concerning the source of the virus:

yes I watched the show and found the whole thing fascinating too

 

[Moxie]

yes I watched the show and found the whole thing fascinating too

Yes, very interesting, and scary, to understand this in further depth. I remember that someone, (you, I think) posted something here early doors about it maybe having come from a lab in Wuhan, which seemed plausible. Then I thought it was discounted, but I don't remember it being turned into a conspiracy theory. (Not saying it wasn't, just saying I'd put that exploration aside.) Whatever the origin, I will say there was no value in politicizing it and making racist remarks. (Like "Kung Flu.") I don't know if we'll ever get enough clarity from China to know the origin for sure. Hopefully there was nothing intentional in it.

I was disappointed to hear Maher speak so uninformedly about the annual flu vaccine. But it was good that the Heying and Weinstein were able to dispel the notion that working with a piece of a lab virus in the vaccine is the same as working with a naturally-occurring virus, in terms of safety.

 

[Federberg]

Yes, very interesting, and scary, to understand this in further depth. I remember that someone, (you, I think) posted something here early doors about it maybe having come from a lab in Wuhan, which seemed plausible. Then I thought it was discounted, but I don't remember it being turned into a conspiracy theory. (Not saying it wasn't, just saying I'd put that exploration aside.) Whatever the origin, I will say there was no value in politicizing it and making racist remarks. (Like "Kung Flu.") I don't know if we'll ever get enough clarity from China to know the origin for sure. Hopefully there was nothing intentional in it.

I was disappointed to hear Maher speak so uninformedly about the annual flu vaccine. But it was good that the Heying and Weinstein were able to dispel the notion that working with a piece of a lab virus in the vaccine is the same as working with a naturally-occurring virus, in terms of safety.

I step away from some of Bill's views but generally I must say I like the cut of his gib. Re: the source of the virus, it may well have been me, but I honestly can't remember. Very quickly I was more concerned about how we dealt with the thing. It's been an unmitigated disaster in the West. The idea that China could be responsible for this... when all is said and done... that's just infuriating. But for now it's not important. Getting back our lives has to be the priority for now. Later though... later... it would be nice to make Xi pay

 

[Moxie]

I step away from some of Bill's views but generally I must say I like the cut of his gib. Re: the source of the virus, it may well have been me, but I honestly can't remember. Very quickly I was more concerned about how we dealt with the thing. It's been an unmitigated disaster in the West. The idea that China could be responsible for this... when all is said and done... that's just infuriating. But for now it's not important. Getting back our lives has to be the priority for now. Later though... later... it would be nice to make Xi pay

I like Maher, too, though sometimes he pisses me off. But that's his schtick. I will certainly agree that it's been an unmitigated disaster in the US. Look at our numbers. No coherent plan from the top down, politicizing it in an election year. There is a feeling that there may be grown-ups in the room taking care of this now, but it's a lot too late.

 

[Federberg]

You say US, I do you one better... UK! If we had the same population as you we would have about 600,000 deaths. There are levels to this...

I'll say one thing though. Intentional or not, it's looking like Trump may have been right about China and covid-19. But.... any Trump supporter who tries to whine about vindication should read the story about the boy who cried wolf... a billion times..