Coronavirus

[bcdcdude]

Pictures of young, half-dressed anime girls (is there any other type?) are a bit noncey though mate.

Context mate. It wasn't fan service or hentai-esque and wasn't harming anybody.

For what it's worth, you support Manchester City, so I could make a witty retort about football fans being angry gammons who cry and get into fights with other fans because another team is better than them, but why bother?

 

[bcdcdude]

cineworld has announced they are closing all their cinemas (uk/ireland) due to covid/lockdown killing the Industry.. i'm not a big fan of the cinema but it sucks because cineworld seemed good. i used my closes one quite a bit.

The cinema is a lifeline for me. I suffer social anxiety and the cinema is a nice half way house in that it gets me out of the house and if I go with friends, we'll often go for a pint afterwards and discuss the movie, so this news is unwelcome.

Cineworld are a bit shite, but £18 a month to see as many films as I like was great. I have an independent cinema in my town which I used to love, but had since avoided because they moved from independent and art house cinema to showing the same stuff Cineworld does, but far more expensive. Yet this week alone, they showed an old Bong Joon-Ho movie and showing the new Sofia Coppola film, so they have my support. £12 a film is a kick in the teeth though.

 

[Mittens2317]

Context mate. It wasn't fan service or hentai-esque and wasn't harming anybody.

For what it's worth, you support Manchester City, so I could make a witty retort about football fans being angry gammons who cry and get into fights with other fans because another team is better than them, but why bother?

Well, I mean, I understand how others think it's weird that we "get emotional over 22 people chasing a ball". You're right about context, but all culture is strange without it.

Seeing a wallpaper of a character like Hatsune Miku on a grown man's desktop and basically saying it's creepy as fuck isn't really in the same ball park as shaggin your mates exes though.

Defo not defending him or attacking you, but that particular part of Japanese culture disturbs many, myself included.

 

[bcdcdude]

Well, I mean, I understand how others think it's weird that we "get emotional over 22 people chasing a ball". You're right about context, but all culture is strange without it.

Seeing a wallpaper of a character like Hatsune Miku on a grown man's desktop and basically saying it's creepy as fuck isn't really in the same ball park as shaggin your mates exes though.

Defo not defending him or attacking you, but that particular part of Japanese culture disturbs many, myself included.

Yeah, I can see that. I guess, because i've always been into the culture, it doesn't bother me as much, but from an outsider looking in, it can look odd. At the same time, i'm not hurting anybody and i'm always happy to say why I like these things. I guess my point with his example is that he is quick to criticise things he doesn't understand, but God forbid you should call him out on things he does wrong. Although I haven't mentioned it, he's almost in his 40's and he has dated women in their early 20's which I think is even creepier.

It's funny actually, when I went to my mates house last week (we often do B movie nights watching trashy horror and martial arts movies) that guy was there. My first instinct was to either walk away or demand an apology for his actions, but I thought i'd play the night out and see how he acted. He seemed to be OK and we had a few laughs, so I guess that was nice. I'd still appreciate him showing some humility (there is no weakness in apologising), but one step at a time I guess.

And for what it's worth i'm a very defensive person and I know my football comment really only relates to a small minority ruining it for everybody. I guess because i'm into more niche things, it grows weary defending myself all the time. I'll often say "Yeah, I like cutesy girly things, but I also like watching gore horror" or that I listen to doo-wop music and abrasive drone. I think it's too easy to criticise things we don't like or understand. I do have mainstream hobbies too!

 

[Mittens2317]

Obviously I don't know the guy, but on personal experience, he's probably just takin the piss. I'm the same in that I'll use a confrontational or aggressive tone of voice, but in reality, I'm not being serious. I think it's more of a working class/pub culture thing, however he seems like the type who can give it out but can't take it.

If you're defensive about things you're a prime target for a wind up. Best thing to do is just get in on the joke. Someone calls you a pedo, just say summat along the lines of "D'yer wanna be in my gang, my gang, my gang?" or do a Jimmy Saville impression or some shit. Someone asks why you're always so serious, stand up proper sudden, knock over your chair n shout "U fukkin wot m8!?!"

Brief pause. Smirk. The moment is now yours. Congratulations. You've just had a laugh at your own expense and become the funny one in the scenario. Treat yourself to a heroic pose and a pint.

 

[bcdcdude]

Yeah, normally that's what I do - especially in a group of mates, but it's more a one-on-one situation it becomes nasty. I am often the butt of many jokes within my friend group, but I can be post ironic in making fun of myself or able to disarm the situation with wit. The examples I gave of the paedo situation or threatening to break my legs were done on Facebook and WhatsApp where reading the text loses the context. If you threatened to break my legs in person, I could gauge the seriousness by the tone and the situation we're in, but when it's done over text, it can sound nasty.

A mate of mine put it best when he said that he wants to be part of the fun (the mocking of me), but because he wants to one-up everyone, when he does it, it comes across as pretty nasty if that makes sense?

Sometimes I try to take the moral high ground, but sometimes a witty retort goes a long way. I could do with a pint now haha.

 

[Mittens2317]

That's one of the issues with texts. Emojis n that can help apply context, but a lot of the time using them can ruin the impact of a joke or the way it's meant to be read. It's like if I were to say "only joking" or - the absolute fucking worst - "that was sarcasm". If it's sarcasm, and you say that it's sarcasm, don't use sarcasm. We're human, not elcor damnit!



What was this topic about again?

 

[Nathanial Essex]

What was this topic about again?

You having "Sea of Thieves" in your Currently Playing status but haven't played Shenmue III, even going as far to say you're not that fussed about it.

 

[Mittens2317]

When Shenmue lets you be a pirate and buy a pet monkey, gi's a shout. Until then, I'll be solo slooping across ocean waves that look better than actual real life fucking water.

 

[red]

new: apparently the uk heading into another lockdown from this wednesday til dec 1st.

 

[LittleBoShenmue]

Well I have some good and bad news: the good news is the fact that my family practically won the battle against the virus and we're returning to work on Monday. The bad news is the fact that my country is basically doing everything to get us all locked down entirely, as the current infection rate is the seventh highest in Europe and we only have 2.1 million people living here. What makes matters worse is the fact that our population is rapidly aging, which puts additional stress on medical workers, who are on the brink of breakdown. Our disgraceful prime minister instituted a curfew, which can prove costly if you're spotted (400-4000€ to be precise). And wanna hear the most ironic thing? While our people are either staying home, or wearing masks and disinfecting their hands, our political elites are hanging around with foreign ministers and governments WITHOUT masks while exchanging handshakes and without keeping a safe distance between others. Shame on them, and their reforms, and when someone points out their mistakes they immediately label him a political traitor. My advise to you guys is steer clear from anything political and once again: stay healthy and safe, we'll make it through!

 

[bcdcdude]

I try not to be too political and I know that the virus does not discriminate with political allegiance, but how things are done during the pandemic can be political and right now, I am fucking fed up with it all.

I think I am pretty lucky in that I've been saving up living with my parents and they were forward thinking enough to plan ahead in case of things getting bad for the winter, but it still gets me down. My work have allowed me to work in the office twice a week on mental health grounds (doing local government work in your bedroom gets to you after a while), but now i'm hearing the UK might go on another lockdown next week is just too much.

Of course, I will do as i'm told and stay at home (although I will go out for a walk at least once a day as I can't stay in the same room all day), but the months of ignoring scientific advice and Dominic Cuntings (not a spelling mistake) thinking he's better than all of us and ignoring the rules have meant that the chickens have come home to roost. There's no guarantee that we would have been in a better position if the rules were followed, but the trust between the Government and the people has been broken as far as i'm concerned. I think our PM is a scumbag. We've got bloody Brexit around the corner too...

I try not to make angry posts. If you look at what I normally post, I like to think i'm quite a happy person, but this is getting too much. I can only feel sorry for those who are in a more difficult position than I am.

For God's sake, please stay safe everybody.

 

[Truck_1_0_1_]

Well I have some good and bad news: the good news is the fact that my family practically won the battle against the virus and we're returning to work on Monday. The bad news is the fact that my country is basically doing everything to get us all locked down entirely, as the current infection rate is the seventh highest in Europe and we only have 2.1 million people living here. What makes matters worse is the fact that our population is rapidly aging, which puts additional stress on medical workers, who are on the brink of breakdown. Our disgraceful prime minister instituted a curfew, which can prove costly if you're spotted (400-4000€ to be precise). And wanna hear the most ironic thing? While our people are either staying home, or wearing masks and disinfecting their hands, our political elites are hanging around with foreign ministers and governments WITHOUT masks while exchanging handshakes and without keeping a safe distance between others. Shame on them, and their reforms, and when someone points out their mistakes they immediately label him a political traitor. My advise to you guys is steer clear from anything political and once again: stay healthy and safe, we'll make it through!

Glad to hear that you guys are better!

We will get trough this; just need to take it 1 day at a time...

I try not to be too political and I know that the virus does not discriminate with political allegiance, but how things are done during the pandemic can be political and right now, I am fucking fed up with it all.

I think I am pretty lucky in that I've been saving up living with my parents and they were forward thinking enough to plan ahead in case of things getting bad for the winter, but it still gets me down. My work have allowed me to work in the office twice a week on mental health grounds (doing local government work in your bedroom gets to you after a while), but now i'm hearing the UK might go on another lockdown next week is just too much.

Of course, I will do as i'm told and stay at home (although I will go out for a walk at least once a day as I can't stay in the same room all day), but the months of ignoring scientific advice and Dominic Cuntings (not a spelling mistake) thinking he's better than all of us and ignoring the rules have meant that the chickens have come home to roost. There's no guarantee that we would have been in a better position if the rules were followed, but the trust between the Government and the people has been broken as far as i'm concerned. I think our PM is a scumbag. We've got bloody Brexit around the corner too...

I try not to make angry posts. If you look at what I normally post, I like to think i'm quite a happy person, but this is getting too much. I can only feel sorry for those who are in a more difficult position than I am.

For God's sake, please stay safe everybody.

You'll rise above it; this is just a temporary thing and I can't wait for a vaccine to come out, so that things will get back to normal (I know it won't automatically cure things, but it'll turn into a flu shot sitch). That's just a matter of time.

And I couldn't help but laugh at, "Cuntings." lolololololololololol

 

[ShenGCH]

What a fucking joke.

I sincerely hope the so-called "silent majority" who have tolerated these ludicrous and unnecessary measures finally put their foot down, say "fuck off," and go about their lives, taking full advantage of their civil liberties, as they should be allowed to do. This virus is going nowhere any time soon; telling people to stay in their homes, refrain from social contact, not go shopping unless it is for "essential" items, or whatever other seemingly pulled-from-a-hat measures with their Orwellian names are enforced will do no good in the very least.

We have the numbers. We have the data. We have the statistics. What do they tell us? That not only are lockdowns ineffective - and that is not even taking into account the decline in mental health, people being turned down for surgeries or treatments for other ailments, people losing their jobs, etc. - but the vast majority of the population will either be asymptomatic or recover in a short time with no lasting effects. I wouldn't wish this virus on anyone, but the response to tackling it has been fucking ridiculous and way out of proportion.

The elderly, those with preexisting health conditions, or the otherwise susceptible? Tell (don't force) them to stay at home while the rest of us - those of us who are healthy or will more than likely be absolutely fine if we catch it - keep society running. It might sound harsh, but that's life. Tough. Parity in these conditions is a non-starter.

"Daily cases" does not mean "daily deaths" or "daily amount of people suffering horrible symptoms and overwhelming hospitals" - it means people testing positive for the virus, even though they might not even get a sniffle. Then, once their body defeats the virus, they will be immune. Herd immunity, just like what happens with chickenpox among groups of young children. For the foreseeable future, that is the only way forward.

I will be spending Christmas with my family - at least nine of us under one roof - and I don't give a fuck about this "Rule of Six" or "YOU'RE KILLING GRANNY!!!" scaremongering bollocks. I'm beyond the point of caring. It's worthless.

 

[spud1897]

4pm press conference in UK for anyone interested re Lockdown.

 

[LittleBoShenmue]

Once again thank you @Truck_1_0_1_ for a message of strong support , but yeah, just like our biggest Slovene poet once said: "Politika je kurba", which translates to English as "Politics is a Bitch". There shouldn't be any room for any kind of political debate on any gaming forums, but if there must be, stay civil to one another and keep a low profile. I am personally politically neutral, as this kind of stuff never amused or interested me.

Returning back to the darn virus, let's just say, some of these numbers are a little inflated and over the top. I found out that there have been 4-digit infection numbers for several days in a country with a population of just 2.1 million! E.g.: There have been 1796 infections yesterday, with an average infection incidence of about 1044 per 100.000 people. Here's the question: where the fuck did they manage to get all these testing swabs from? Moreover, I have decided to get a booster shot against the flu, but they're almost out of flu shots... Yet, they still have enough motherfucking resources for these stupid swabs? Croatia and Hungary have asked us for help to send some Remdesivir, Germany has offered us some help with the additional beds and masks, BUT, our beloved PM declined the help, saying we don't need it, well newsflash mister PM, people are dying, and all you care for is your position in the Parliament? What if you're the one who gets the virus? Think about it.

Anyway, this whole situation made me a little exhausted. But hey, we'll make it through, right?

 

[spud1897]

What a fucking joke.

I sincerely hope the so-called "silent majority" who have tolerated these ludicrous and unnecessary measures finally put their foot down, say "fuck off," and go about their lives, taking full advantage of their civil liberties, as they should be allowed to do. This virus is going nowhere any time soon; telling people to stay in their homes, refrain from social contact, not go shopping unless it is for "essential" items, or whatever other seemingly pulled-from-a-hat measures with their Orwellian names are enforced will do no good in the very least.

We have the numbers. We have the data. We have the statistics. What do they tell us? That not only are lockdowns ineffective - and that is not even taking into account the decline in mental health, people being turned down for surgeries or treatments for other ailments, people losing their jobs, etc. - but the vast majority of the population will either be asymptomatic or recover in a short time with no lasting effects. I wouldn't wish this virus on anyone, but the response to tackling it has been fucking ridiculous and way out of proportion.

The elderly, those with preexisting health conditions, or the otherwise susceptible? Tell (don't force) them to stay at home while the rest of us - those of us who are healthy or will more than likely be absolutely fine if we catch it - keep society running. It might sound harsh, but that's life. Tough. Parity in these conditions is a non-starter.

"Daily cases" does not mean "daily deaths" or "daily amount of people suffering horrible symptoms and overwhelming hospitals" - it means people testing positive for the virus, even though they might not even get a sniffle. Then, once their body defeats the virus, they will be immune. Herd immunity, just like what happens with chickenpox among groups of young children. For the foreseeable future, that is the only way forward.

I will be spending Christmas with my family - at least nine of us under one roof - and I don't give a fuck about this "Rule of Six" or "YOU'RE KILLING GRANNY!!!" scaremongering bollocks. I'm beyond the point of caring. It's worthless.

You're damned if you do, damned if you don't with this situation. Lockdown, the economy gets hammered and people die from not getting their various treatements. Don't lockdown and people die of COVID, hospitals get overwhelmed and people can't get their treatments anyway...

One of the biggest failings here is the long term planning of the government for any sort of pandemics. They ran simulations and that advice was not followed so our capacity to deal with these sorts of things is already at a disadvantage. Don't even get me started on track and trace.

Schools is a tough one. Our kids need educating but they are carriers of the virus and as someone who works in education it's difficult to do much about it. Our schools are over subscribed across the board, no room for maneuvering so spacing things out more won't happen. Yet we let down the future of these children by closing schools.

Then there is the advice not being followed early enough. Had they done a 2 week lockdown in Sept I suspect we may not be here now or if we were maybe another mini-lockdown to ensure Xmas was OK.

While I do think we will find a vaccine and it will become part of usual immunizations that won;t be for some time. Businesses will go under if this stop-start continues, people will be jobless, less taxes = we can't afford many more of these if any now. We will have to learn to live with this longer term, people are already fatigued with it and it will only get worse.

As someone who uses the Gym as an outlet I'd be devastated if they shut. But I will cope. Others will struggle and that's another knock-on.

I can see the arguments for both sides & wouldn't want to be making whatever the call is later on.

 

[Nathanial Essex]

What a fucking joke.

I sincerely hope the so-called "silent majority" who have tolerated these ludicrous and unnecessary measures finally put their foot down, say "fuck off," and go about their lives, taking full advantage of their civil liberties, as they should be allowed to do. This virus is going nowhere any time soon; telling people to stay in their homes, refrain from social contact, not go shopping unless it is for "essential" items, or whatever other seemingly pulled-from-a-hat measures with their Orwellian names are enforced will do no good in the very least.

We have the numbers. We have the data. We have the statistics. What do they tell us? That not only are lockdowns ineffective - and that is not even taking into account the decline in mental health, people being turned down for surgeries or treatments for other ailments, people losing their jobs, etc. - but the vast majority of the population will either be asymptomatic or recover in a short time with no lasting effects. I wouldn't wish this virus on anyone, but the response to tackling it has been fucking ridiculous and way out of proportion.

The elderly, those with preexisting health conditions, or the otherwise susceptible? Tell (don't force) them to stay at home while the rest of us - those of us who are healthy or will more than likely be absolutely fine if we catch it - keep society running. It might sound harsh, but that's life. Tough. Parity in these conditions is a non-starter.

"Daily cases" does not mean "daily deaths" or "daily amount of people suffering horrible symptoms and overwhelming hospitals" - it means people testing positive for the virus, even though they might not even get a sniffle. Then, once their body defeats the virus, they will be immune. Herd immunity, just like what happens with chickenpox among groups of young children. For the foreseeable future, that is the only way forward.

I will be spending Christmas with my family - at least nine of us under one roof - and I don't give a fuck about this "Rule of Six" or "YOU'RE KILLING GRANNY!!!" scaremongering bollocks. I'm beyond the point of caring. It's worthless.

What's the end game here? Even with a vaccine the virus isn't going away and in the grand scheme of things, the mortality rate is ridiculously low for this type of response. It's like banning cars to stop road deaths.

Are we going to keep shutting everything down when numbers start to creep up? If so when do we stop doing this? When there's a vaccine? We have a flu vaccine and still tens of thousands of people die from that a year.

Anyone from Sweden here by any chance?

 

[Nathanial Essex]

You're damned if you do, damned if you don't with this situation. Lockdown, the economy gets hammered and people die from not getting their various treatements. Don't lockdown and people die of COVID, hospitals get overwhelmed and people can't get their treatments anyway...

Genuine question, have hospitals here ever been more overwhelmed than usual? I've seen those reports from the BBC and Sky News about hospitals struggling but not too sure how much of that is simply hyperbole.

Neighbour is a doctor and works in various hospitals around London and has said things have always been extremely quiet when we were in the midst of things and I've heard similar from others. We built those two temporary hospitals and they were quite literally not used

I know people who have died or suffered from car accidents, cancer, stabbings, diabetes, heart attacks and strokes. Only person I know of who has had Covid is my friends girlfriend.

Don't want to sound too much like I'm dismissing this completely but something about the entire situation doesn't sit right with me. Whether there's a grand conspiracy or just grand incompetence, something about this reaction isn't right.

 

[Nathanial Essex]

And the mainstream media piss me off. Asking questions to the Prime Minister and it's clear their only objective is to try and kick the man in this difficult situation instead of asking genuine questions.