Corona Virus

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Originally Posted by Pickles2

I don't know what to think about Forum members who are able to be light hearted about this issue,
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Just wondering whether or not I have any common ground with other forum members who may feel a bit like this.
Keep safe, Pickles.

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It may be that there isn't such a big gap between your attitude and the attitude of (most of) the rest of us.

I always though it was a brilliant line in a movie that I think was called "Bridge of Spies", when an old Russian spy was asked if he was worried and his reply was, "Would it help?"

I believe it is possible to take the virus seriously without worrying, because the worrying doesn't add to the effectiveness of whatever preventative measures you are taking. It is your precautions that go some way towards saving you or helping reduce the problem. Your worrying won't help at all.

I also think it is possible to be fully aware of the seriousness of the situation while being amused by some of the very clever dark humour that is around. There have always been jokes about such things as death and funerals. Perhaps that isn't what you meant by being lighthearted. Perhaps you just meant not taking the situation seriously.

Even amongst people who don't completely dismiss the idea that this is something serious , I find there are many who don't understand how geometric progressions work. Perhaps they were the ones who sat in maths lesson about exponential curves thinking there was no way they were ever going to need to understand this nonsense.

Remember that, no doubt apocryphal, story of the person who invented the chess board asking for his reward to be one grain of wheat on the first square of the chess board, two on the second, four on the third and so on.

I'm not convinced that some people understand how quickly numbers can get frighteningly big when they double every three days as is happening with this virus.

Anyway, my attitude is that it should be taken very seriously and everything possible should be done, but that worrying doesn't help.

In Germany the graph is flattening out. Again too early to claim victory.

In Germany, the President of the Robert Koch Institute Lothar Wieler cautioned against too much optimism that the measures taken in Germany to counter the coronavirus could soon take effect."We see a trend that the exponential growth curve is somewhat flattening out," Wieler said, adding that a clearer overview on the effectiveness of Germany's counter coronavirus measures might be ready by Wednesday."It is in our hands to combat the epidemic … Keeping a distance is today's order," Wieler said, adding that social distancing measures must be strengthened and that "there is still a gap between knowledge and action."Austria, which saw a week and a half of strict social distancing measures, reported on Sunday that the number of confirmed infections rose by around 15% over the weekend, having dropped continuously from the peak rate of 40% before the lockdown.

May as well post the whole report from the German media.

Coronavirus latest: UK rolls out nationwide lockdown | News | DW | 23.03.2020

Over a 100 people lost their jobs near within 200metres of me yesterday ( small shopping centre), They and about 1,000,000 others crashed MY Gov Website and lined up on mass at centrelink to try and register as unemployed.

With about a million now on the dole ( when they can get registered) housing prices are likely to crash some. With no tourists or holiday AirB&B might be on the market or on for long term rent with is likely to fall as well. Banks who happily financed property bubble have already been kicked with more to come I guess.

The claim of a cybre attach was really just more than 150,000 trying to get onto MyGOV yesterday. All or most of the call centres closed or went offshore years ago.

http://Calls for Centrelink payments to be sped up to help waves of newly jobless during coronavirus shutdow

I am not a property investor - My sympathy for those of you who are. Its going to be messy

Good news with fridges and sunny rolls overflowing so we can start get back to normal shopping at least

MyGov has crashed again today and I need to report!!!! Can't get through on pone either just get engaged signal!!! If I don't report before 5pm I won't get my payment and as my bank account went overdrawn last night other direct debits will start to be rejected. Will the grubberment have any simpathy for me? NO. Will they say it is my fault I didn't report? YES. Will I be up **** creek? You bet!!

With regards to the worry/taking the situation seriously thing everyone on here has a different perspective as well as having differing ways of dealing with stress. I am a pretty practical person and from my perspective very little has changed or will change short of getting seriously Ill. We don't go out much so social distancing isnt much of a challenge, work has been declared essential and my job is as secure as it can be, as with SWMBO. Our close friends are distant by a couple of hundered KM so only see them infrequently anyway.

The kids face disruption, one with no casual work and both with a half assed attempt at continuing education but there is very little I can do about that.

My elderly mum is as well as can be expected and is coping OK, we visited her a couple of weeks ago maybe for the last time for a while, or ever, but again the outcome of that is beyond my control.

The minor stuff that annoys me I can rant about on here and gain a small amount of satisfaction from a robust debate.


Not everyone is able to react to the unknown in the same way or has as little disruption fron the virus as me so being nice and respecting that difference of perception more than usual is important.


Regards,
Tote

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Originally Posted by Eevo

i'm just a person with a different opinion.

btw, provocateur means agent inciting criminal behavior, which is very different to trolling.

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Not in any of the dictionaries I consulted. No mention of criminal behaviour.

provocateur in British English



(prəˌvɒkəˈtɜː), provocator (ˈprɒvəˌkeɪtə) or provoker (prəˈvəʊkə)
NOUN a person who deliberately behaves controversially in order to provoke argument or other strong reactions

Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers




provocateur in American English



(prəˌvɑkəˈtɜr; proʊˌvɑkəˈtɜr)
NOUN 1. short foragent provocateur

2. a writer, artist, political activist, etc. whose works, ideas, or activities are regarded as a threat to accepted values or practices


Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.

So I finally got through on the Centrelink reporting line. Quoted my CRN as requested and recieved a response of ..."sorry, your access to self service has been suspended, good bye."

WTF!!!!!!:2up: First time I've tried to use it!!!!

Do stuff on the phone they say, do stuff on the web they say, don't go to the office they say.

MORONS!!!

My sons friend lost his casual job in hospo. He rang his real estate agent just as a courtesy to advise he is out of work and may have trouble paying his future rent in a few weeks. They Agent was not very sympathetic and moaned.

Cripes! Who said the English Language is one of the hardest, if not the main one, to understand? Seems even Dictionaries can't even agree.[bigrolf]