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Bad Actors
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: People
- Hits: 796
..., and, I hope, if nothing else comes out of this, that we identify the bad actors and take steps when this is all said and done to remove or isolate them. By that I mean the people who purposely don't self isolate, I mean the companies - like the Calgary Flames, that announce they won't pay their front line staff for the duration of the Crisis (their backpedaling later a reaction to public outrage - the cost of their entire front line - vendors, etc - has to be less than the cost of the contract they signed the greenest rookie with!!), the same with the owners of the Boston Bruins, Jeff Bezos, who after slashing benefits for employees then had the audacity to suggest employees pool their sick leave to pay employees who actually needed it, the meat-loving couple of the Okanagan, every single fucking Mother Fucker who overstocked on Toilet Paper, baked beans, etc. There are enough pictures floating around, we know who they are, we can find them. Let go of the Flames, give the same time to volunteering that you would to a hockey team that's done nothing but disappoint you, both you and your community will be richer. Fuck Bezos and your whacked neighbors, they planned to survive this alone, let them live the rest of their lives in isolation. We owe them nothing. Boycott McDonalds - like - dah, a million years too late, who refused sick pay to their employees while subjecting them to unsafe levels of public contact. Airlines and Banks who needed a bailout. Every fucking landlord that needed his rent right-now or you get evicted in the midst of a pandemic. Everyone one of these fuckers, and there's by now too many to list, but compile the list when it's all said and done and isolate, boycott, and shut them down.
...And Lol, The Trump/Pence will sound...
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Events
- Hits: 701
Lol. Some good memes on the end of days, specifically on a phonetic re-reading of the Book of Revelations, which should scare the fuck out of every Christian out there since they have elected them into being!
The title courtesy of Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/PoliticalHumor/comments/fo441b/and_lol_the_trumppence_will_sound/
Meanwhile, a couple of graphs/images grabbed from the net that illustrate how Alberta's early action is throttling the virus:
Note that on the 15th Alberta closed schools, many employers, etc. Social Distancing works. Our curve is flattening. BC began taking action days later, Ontario almost a week. This may well be the only Alberta Advantage at the moment, but it's a good one, our "curve" is starting to flatten.
COVID-19 in Alberta
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
- Hits: 1192
So, reading the news and almost all of it is bad and so I'll look a bit for the silver lining.
First off, the situation - worldwide - is appalling. Most countries - (not all) - have under-reacted and begun measures far too late. Spain, Italy, France, etc. are obvious examples. Less obvious examples - Australia - initiating isolating measures when their number of cases topped 1100. To compare - Alberta began shutting down and self isolating with 50 odd cases, less than 200 Cases nationwide. Note that when we began shutting down Australia had less cases than us - per capita probably roughly equal, they've since surpassed us. That's a big difference in containment - not merely big, but huge. We've already seen how overwhelmed testing and hospitals become - we have - Canadians - and especially Albertans - an incredible advantage.
The UK began quarantine measures - for comparison - at 6000 cases. The US hasn't yet begun - only a few states, the rest are in denial. Insufficient tests, Celebrities and Athletes first. If you can't see it, it doesn't exist. New Zealand has locked down at 100 cases - comparing populations to Canada that's still a bit late - but a hell of a lot better than any other English speaking country.
The rest of the world has stopped reporting. India, Bangladesh, most countries in Asia - haven't the resources. People live and die there without ever seeing a doctor - numbers will be calculated and estimated only years after it's over. Russia is on it's own page and given it's crackdown on "irresponsible" reporting will fall into the same category. Note that rates of infection record only the most serious cases, and even of those only a fraction of those are tested, and the numbers of people showing up as infected are generally 2 weeks into the curve and you have a real number more like 40,000,000 infected, not 400,000 - and even then I'm being conservative.
My own predictions - calculated at the current spread rates - see Alberta at approximately 639 cases by Saturday, BC at approximately 1509. The last 2 days reportage seem to confirm my math. If we show less then the curve is starting to flatten. More and more extreme measures will have to be taken. But the take away - if we hit Saturday, after 2 weeks of self-isolation, we should be proud. We won't have beaten it, but we'll have controlled it. BC and Ontario will be in for rougher times, not least because of the Border - closed a week (late), but because of their greater population and later steps taken in closing schools/restaurants/child-care services.
An old friend
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Dreams
- Hits: 669
I'm somewhere and I hear from Lance - an old friend I haven't seen since University. He looks different, older, unrecognizable. We're going to go out, only at the moment I'm between 2 apartments, both half unpacked and filled with treasures, so I tell him I just want to go home, pick up my shoes, I'll meet him after...
Rooting through my belongings, half-packed or unpacked boxes...
Going to leave when a snake, small, venomous, bites me on the heel - I check; it hasn't punctured the skin, I should be fine, but my chance to meet Lance, it's gone...
***
A nap, later in the day, picks up on the same dream, Lance with a friend of his, tall, good looking African/American musician, we're in my other apartment, my Calgary one, and I'm looking for something to prepare for them...
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