Virus thread, the political one.

[johnmdesigner]

The French are laughing at Macron riding in the Directors car today with Prudhomme next to him lathering up their hands with sanitizer.
Plenty of stupidity to go around.

[echappist]

And now, the Big Ten conference is volunteering its population, led by its football programs, for the ongoing experiment. Heart damage is still a mystery but the need for votes in swing states is not.

My wife attends UW for grad school but can't go to actual lab classes. The caseloads have been sky rocketing. Two dorms, with combined population of ~2k, has positive rate of 20% overall. Both are under quarantine orders that apparently have been flouted. It's like being on a cruiseship, except people can get on and off.

Invariably, this will affect the community at large as well. I have no idea how they'll implement social distance for the actual matches (perhaps no spectator allowed)? But if anything, I don't think the town is too thrilled with what the gownies are doing. I certainly have stopped going to shops near the campus itself.

Then again, if there's one thing that we do know, it's that there is nothing that can't be sacrificed at the altar of collegiate sports (e.g. the crimes perpetrated at Penn State and Michigan State)

[vertical_doug]

My wife attends UW for grad school but can't go to actual lab classes. The caseloads have been sky rocketing. Two dorms, with combined population of ~2k, has positive rate of 20% overall. Both are under quarantine orders that apparently have been flouted. It's like being on a cruiseship, except people can get on and off.

Invariably, this will affect the community at large as well. I have no idea how they'll implement social distance for the actual matches (perhaps no spectator allowed)? But if anything, I don't think the town is too thrilled with what the gownies are doing. I certainly have stopped going to shops near the campus itself.

Then again, if there's one thing that we do know, it's that there is nothing that can't be sacrificed at the altar of collegiate sports (e.g. the crimes perpetrated at Penn State and Michigan State)

They did make a concession, instead of Oct 17, because Wisco and MSU are under 2 week lockdowns, they are starting Oct 24.
(I thought Wisco was under 2 week lockdown from last Friday?)

I heard from a Dad with a son in a frat at Indiana, 30 of 40 Fraternities are under quarantine, and in his son's Frat, 38 of 52 brothers tested positive.
I don't think the Big Ten makes it to kickoff. It will start to get cold, and the virus will come back with a vengeance.

I am back in the UK, and with the weather being colder in the north, the government is putting stricter measures in place from this evening in the Northeast and in south Wales. They are warning Londoners to follow guidelines or else additional steps will be taken. I see little hope for compliance. I thought I'd get the entire Month of October to have staff in the office on reduce shifts to re-connect before the Christmas lockdown, but I am not so sure.

[Chik]

The French are laughing at Macron riding in the Directors car today with Prudhomme next to him lathering up their hands with sanitizer.
Plenty of stupidity to go around.

That was hysterical. Obviously done for the TV cameras on both sides of the car, but made me wonder, "WTF were you guys doing in the car before the cameras caught up?"

[Too Tall]

During my morning read stumbled on this nice piece of political art
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/17/o...als-qanon.html

[vertical_doug]

Is this a secret coded picture? TooTall are you Q?

You were living in the swamps near Washington, but now appear to be in an undisclosed locations in the hollows and mountain tops of Appalachia.

I'm just saying.....

During my morning read stumbled on this nice piece of political art
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/17/o...als-qanon.html

[echappist]

They did make a concession, instead of Oct 17, because Wisco and MSU are under 2 week lockdowns, they are starting Oct 24.
(I thought Wisco was under 2 week lockdown from last Friday?)

I heard from a Dad with a son in a frat at Indiana, 30 of 40 Fraternities are under quarantine, and in his son's Frat, 38 of 52 brothers tested positive.
I don't think the Big Ten makes it to kickoff. It will start to get cold, and the virus will come back with a vengeance.

I am back in the UK, and with the weather being colder in the north, the government is putting stricter measures in place from this evening in the Northeast and in south Wales. They are warning Londoners to follow guidelines or else additional steps will be taken. I see little hope for compliance. I thought I'd get the entire Month of October to have staff in the office on reduce shifts to re-connect before the Christmas lockdown, but I am not so sure.

I guess the issue I didn't quite grasp was that this is a lot more political than it appears.

Panem et circenses at its best (or rather, worst)

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...tball-election

[72gmc]

I guess the issue I didn't quite grasp was that this is a lot more political than it appears.

Panem et circenses at its best (or rather, worst)

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...tball-election

Yep. As near as I can tell after reading multiple sources, the risk hasn't changed for college athletes and communities. Lots of talk about more testing and faster responses to positives, which is a good development, but no agreement that there is less health risk from contracting this virus.

The risk for student populations and surrounding communities is pretty clear. The risk to college athletic/operating budgets is very clear. The risk to re-election, a little less clear. But, many people are saying that a particular politician is worth more than a lot of little people.

[vertical_doug]

Yep. As near as I can tell after reading multiple sources, the risk hasn't changed for college athletes and communities. Lots of talk about more testing and faster responses to positives, which is a good development, but no agreement that there is less health risk from contracting this virus.

The risk for student populations and surrounding communities is pretty clear. The risk to college athletic/operating budgets is very clear. The risk to re-election, a little less clear. But, many people are saying that a particular politician is worth more than a lot of little people.

My friend who supports he who must not be named, was all for Big Ten football starting back up. He was pointing to Clemson playing last weekend showing the way to safely re-open college and play football... Unfortunately if my friend bothered to look, he'd see Clemson had closed campus earlier in the month because of the spike in cases and I believe the campus is planning to reopening until 9/21.

I think some of the Big Ten teams don't make it to opening weekend if players are actually attending class.

[echappist]

My friend who supports he who must not be named, was all for Big Ten football starting back up. He was pointing to Clemson playing last weekend showing the way to safely re-open college and play football... Unfortunately if my friend bothered to look, he'd see Clemson had closed campus earlier in the month because of the spike in cases and I believe the campus is planning to reopening until 9/21.

I think some of the Big Ten teams don't make it to opening weekend if players are actually attending class.

Apparently ~40 or so people affiliated with the Badgers football team (staff or players) have tested positive. Of course, the school is playing coy and doesn't want this to be known, but the county basically mooted that by putting it out in the open.

https://madison.com/wsj/sports/colle...b2d1c4237.html

This also doesn't address the issue that going along with the plan is enormously expensive and wasteful. Everyone associated with the team is tested everyday, and I bet they'll still have loads of positives. It's like someone with a compulsive spending problem checking statement balances daily, but refuses to do the things actually necessary to prevent spending from going out of control. Except here, even the act of checking is expensive. Back in the early summer, people were lining up in droves to get tested, often waiting 3 hours in the heat. And now they are doing ~6k tests a month, just on the football team alone. The whole damn thing is unconscionable.

Compare this to how the English Premier League and Football League restarted. I think they do checks twice a week but otherwise follow very strict protocols. In the end, there were very few positives, and those who flout the bubble gets excoriated.

[theflashunc]

Football should be the last thing on anyone's mind. But there was that positive fan at the Sunday night Chiefs game who infected a bunch in people in his luxury box. So that's something.

[echappist]

Football should be the last thing on anyone's mind. But there was that positive fan at the Sunday night Chiefs game who infected a bunch in people in his luxury box. So that's something.

Chiefs at inducing SMH moments...

[vertical_doug]

Apparently ~40 or so people affiliated with the Badgers football team (staff or players) have tested positive. Of course, the school is playing coy and doesn't want this to be known, but the county basically mooted that by putting it out in the open.

https://madison.com/wsj/sports/colle...b2d1c4237.html

This also doesn't address the issue that going along with the plan is enormously expensive and wasteful. Everyone associated with the team is tested everyday, and I bet they'll still have loads of positives. It's like someone with a compulsive spending problem checking statement balances daily, but refuses to do the things actually necessary to prevent spending from going out of control. Except here, even the act of checking is expensive. Back in the early summer, people were lining up in droves to get tested, often waiting 3 hours in the heat. And now they are doing ~6k tests a month, just on the football team alone. The whole damn thing is unconscionable.

Compare this to how the English Premier League and Football League restarted. I think they do checks twice a week but otherwise follow very strict protocols. In the end, there were very few positives, and those who flout the bubble gets excoriated.

Since Trump doesn't believe in Title 9 , I guess no Title 9 violation here.

Since more than a few of the athletes are going to suffer myocarditis post-infection, I guess we just wait and see what happens..

[davids]

Georgia's going to be playing football this fall, but they won't "risk" providing polling places on campus for their 38,000 students. The fucking hypocrisy.

And I heard through family that things are burning down at Wisconsin. I expect the same to happen all across the country within a few weeks.

This is going to be a really bad winter.

[72gmc]

https://www.cbssports.com/college-fo...-availability/

Bettors want to know which teams and which players have to sit out for COVID-19 reasons.

When a coach says it's about privacy, I don't believe him. That's about wins and losses. This is about privacy. The politicians probably don't care, but the schools should have seen this coming, no?

[vertical_doug]

Georgia's going to be playing football this fall, but they won't "risk" providing polling places on campus for their 38,000 students. The fucking hypocrisy.

And I heard through family that things are burning down at Wisconsin. I expect the same to happen all across the country within a few weeks.

This is going to be a really bad winter.

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/ent...AQ7lfANg3kwzKl

Georgia blinked on voting

[gregl]

Panem et circenses at its best (or rather, worst)

This one had me flashing back to my first Latin class in middle school. It's absolutely shocking that nearly 2,000 years after this quote was first used, it still rings true. We really need some folks to throw out loaves of bread to the stadium audiences during this fall's college football games. All that's missing is Trump in a toga with a laurel wreath atop his orange hair...

Greg

[echappist]

This one had me flashing back to my first Latin class in middle school. It's absolutely shocking that nearly 2,000 years after this quote was first used, it still rings true. We really need some folks to throw out loaves of bread to the stadium audiences during this fall's college football games. All that's missing is Trump in a toga with a laurel wreath atop his orange hair...

Greg

What about rolls of toilet paper?

I thought about posting a gif of how he nonchalantly tossed out toilet paper in the aftermath of the Puerto Rico hurricane, but really, no one needs to see the image of a tosser in action

[gregl]

What about rolls of toilet paper?

We've proudly had this in our guest bathroom since 2016. I'm not kidding. We make sure it's available for use during the holidays and family/friend gatherings.

Greg

[ides1056]

That paper should be orange.