Covid19

[Matthew Strongin]

Same story here.
But I'm stretched across Zurich, Sydney and New York timezones. The concept of day and night has become blurry.

Bangalore to Santa Clara here. I hear you.

[j44ke]

My wife is actually pretty used to this sort of communication. Several times on large cases, she's created global circumnavigating writing teams where very large complicated documents get handed around the globe in order to construct something that would otherwise take a week if done within one time zone, even with a profound lack of sleep. That required telephonic conferencing, intrafirm chat and other forms of coordination to pull off. Currently she has the bridge of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701 not CVN-65) set up in her home office.

Makes me crazy though, but less so now that she's upgraded her tech so that everything I do in the house isn't picked up by her microphone. I do occasionally think she is talking to me, but when the conversation turns to international treaty number RG480 p. 45 footnote 12, I realize that I've been talking to the ceiling again.

[ides1056]

Quite a few firms in NYC are considering June 2021 as the projected "back to normal" date. Just doesn't make any sense to ramp up for a return this fall, only to turn around and send everyone home again.

Talked with the banker today and that's the date they've been told to return to the office, maybe. Meanwhile there's millions of acres of expensive real estate with rodents going wild.

[BBB]

My wife is actually pretty used to this sort of communication. Several times on large cases, she's created global circumnavigating writing teams where very large complicated documents get handed around the globe in order to construct something that would otherwise take a week if done within one time zone, even with a profound lack of sleep. That required telephonic conferencing, intrafirm chat and other forms of coordination to pull off. Currently she has the bridge of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701 not CVN-65) set up in her home office.

Makes me crazy though, but less so now that she's upgraded her tech so that everything I do in the house isn't picked up by her microphone. I do occasionally think she is talking to me, but when the conversation turns to international treaty number RG480 p. 45 footnote 12, I realize that I've been talking to the ceiling again.

Still, had this pandemic happened 20 years ago we would not have had the technology to enable us to work from home (and communicating globally and/or with the ceiling). Isolation would have put a very big hand brake on professional service industries if we were all waiting at home for the coast to clear (so to speak) and the economic downturn would have been much harsher. Or very different public policy decisions would have been made or weighed up.

While the Enterprise is not located in our house (and talking to the ceiling is avoided if at all possible) there have been calls/meetings via Teams and Zoom (or even by old fashioned mobile phone) to various parts of the globe (as well as to various parts of locked down Melbourne). Fortunately we have the technology to facilitate this and while doing your job via Zoom can take some time to get used to and working from home can be intrusive and involve some juggling (a bit better now the kids are back at school), it is a better outcome than what would have happened 20 years ago.

It is interesting to reflect on what will happen when we go to back to the office. How do we get there? Public transport is dead at the moment and there will be no rush to be crammed in on trains. How many of us will go at the one time (rotations between office and home for example). Will that fancy new fit out that cost a bomb and set up hot desking be a complete waste of money? And so on.

[Chik]

The management at a major investment bank is starting to form the view that many positions within the firm are not essential in the locations, at the salary levels that they currently exist. Instead, they could have those functions fulfilled overseas where salary rates are considerably lower. Most vulnerable seem to be positions currently occupied by those in their late 20s and early 30s.

I wouldn't be surprised if others start thinking the same.

[sk_tle]

They are pretty dumb if they had to be forced into implement work@home to figure that out.

[jimcav]

based solely on my 24 yeas on active duty at units both tiny and huge, I would never underestimate the ability of ANY organization with more than 150 personnel to inadequately utilize LSS or other PI improvement methodologies to actually maintain mid-level and higher positions, rather than actually become more efficient and streamlined

[Chik]

Remdesivir and interferon fall flat in WHO’s megastudy of COVID-19 treatments.

One of the world’s biggest trials of COVID-19 therapies released its long-awaited interim results yesterday—and they’re a letdown. None of the four treatments in the Solidarity trial, which enrolled more than 11,000 patients in 400 hospitals around the globe, increased survival—not even the much-touted antiviral drug remdesivir. Scientists at the World Health Organization (WHO) released the data as a preprint on medRxiv last night, ahead of its planned publication in The New England Journal of Medicine.

[j44ke]

From the NYS Dept. of WhatDidYouNotUnderstandAbout50PersonLimit?

https://gothamist.com/news/state-iss...g-williamsburg

[j44ke]

Remdesivir and interferon fall flat in WHO’s megastudy of COVID-19 treatments.

One of the world’s biggest trials of COVID-19 therapies released its long-awaited interim results yesterday—and they’re a letdown. None of the four treatments in the Solidarity trial, which enrolled more than 11,000 patients in 400 hospitals around the globe, increased survival—not even the much-touted antiviral drug remdesivir. Scientists at the World Health Organization (WHO) released the data as a preprint on medRxiv last night, ahead of its planned publication in The New England Journal of Medicine.

The more of these things that come up shooting blanks (after bulking up on loads of capital investment and US Gov $$) the more I think Trump never tested positive for covid19 and it was just a pump and dump scheme for magic elixirs that will waste scientist's time while being proven useless over the next 6 months.

[Sbti]

The more of these things that come up shooting blanks (after bulking up on loads of capital investment and US Gov $$) the more I think Trump never tested positive for covid19 and it was just a pump and dump scheme for magic elixirs that will waste scientist's time while being proven useless over the next 6 months.

I wish Frederick Christ Trump Sr. had been shooting blanks.

[j44ke]

I wish Frederick Christ Trump Sr. had been shooting blanks.

I wasn't making such a course reference with my comment. Shooting blanks is metaphorical - as in a gun, not a stupid innuendo.

[ides1056]

The video of Trump walking up the stairs and saluting from the balcony suggests he was really sick. He's clearly struggling to breathe through gritted teeth.

[thollandpe]

The video of Trump walking up the stairs and saluting from the balcony suggests he was really sick. He's clearly struggling to breathe through gritted teeth.

That may also be baseline. Recall walking down the ramp at West Point.

[ides1056]

okay

But it does seem dexamethasone, or some other substance, floats his boat in a big way. I could not believe he began the one debate he showed up for speaking in complete sentences.

[j44ke]

okay

But it does seem dexamethasone, or some other substance, floats his boat in a big way. I could not believe he began the one debate he showed up for speaking in complete sentences.

Speaking of dex-meth, the day after getting out of the hospital, Trump tweeted that he had directed the immediate release of all documents - without any redactions - from the Russia probe and Clinton emails investigation. Currently the government is fighting a number of FOI requests for the release of these same documents. So the judge hearing those FOI arguments has said that he wants to know who he should be listening to and why it would not be the President of the United States. The lawyers are arguing that there was no actual presidential order, just a tweet, but that calls into question all the previous orders delivered by tweet from the President. So the lawyers are arguing intent also - that the President did not actually intend to release all the documents. But the judge has said “Looks pretty intentional to me.” So it seems like what the lawyers would like to argue is that the President was impaired or otherwise not-competent when he made those tweets - but that raises a lot of questions. Was a competency test administered, when was it administered, when was he judged incompetent, when was he judged to be competent, why was he allowed to retain his powers as President, etc.

Trump keeps talking about a coup from the Democrats. And everyone keeps wringing their hands about whether Trump will leave if defeated in November. But here is the President issuing an emphatic directive and his lawyers refusing to honor it - in a court, in front of a judge. Is Barr then effectively President of the United States?

Bizarre times.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local...ef7_story.html

[Too Tall]

Speaking of dex-meth, the day after getting out of the hospital, Trump tweeted that he had directed the immediate release of all documents - without any redactions - from the Russia probe and Clinton emails investigation. Currently the government is fighting a number of FOI requests for the release of these same documents. So the judge hearing those FOI arguments has said that he wants to know who he should be listening to and why it would not be the President of the United States. The lawyers are arguing that there was no actual presidential order, just a tweet, but that calls into question all the previous orders delivered by tweet from the President. So the lawyers are arguing intent also - that the President did not actually intend to release all the documents. But the judge has said “Looks pretty intentional to me.” So it seems like what the lawyers would like to argue is that the President was impaired or otherwise not-competent when he made those tweets - but that raises a lot of questions. Was a competency test administered, when was it administered, when was he judged incompetent, when was he just to be competent, why was he allowed to retain his powers as President, etc.

Trump keeps talking about a coup from the Democrats. And everyone keeps wringing their hands about whether Trump will leave if defeated in November. But here is the President issuing an emphatic directive and his lawyers refusing to honor it - in a court, in front of a judge. Is Barr then effectively President of the United States?

Bizarre times.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local...ef7_story.html

Barr POTUS nah. He's Cosplaying Roy Cohen.

It is still amateur hr. at the W.H.

[Sbti]

Dumbass Sturgis Superspreader Rally Update

https://www.washingtonpost.com/healt...-rally-spread/

[BBB]

Trump keeps talking about a coup from the Democrats. And everyone keeps wringing their hands about whether Trump will leave if defeated in November. But here is the President issuing an emphatic directive and his lawyers refusing to honor it - in a court, in front of a judge. Is Barr then effectively President of the United States?

Bizarre times.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local...ef7_story.html

With people wanting to kidnap a Governor and Trump wanting to lock 'em all up, I'd be locking my door on election night if Biden wins.

[ides1056]

You know, I don't have any apprehension about adverse consequences should Biden win. The sun will come up in the morning, and we'll have a new day. All the rats will slink back into their holes, sleep off the hangover, and the work to repair the damage done will begin.

This is just an unnatural disaster. When it's over we'll breathe a sigh of relief.