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Steve

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I don't know how they'd try it.  Drug profiteering has been legal for decades.  I hate to use the current point-at-and-yell whipping boy, but it hits very close to home:  Look at insulin.  Only in the US is it possible to not afford it.

 

Get a Tylenol from a hospital:  thirteen bucks.  For ONE PILL!

 

 

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I've been marveling at the lack of Corona virus cases in China lately and then I saw this.

 

https://abc14news.com/2020/03/24/21-million-chinese-cellphone-users-disappear-in-three-months/

 

The quantity of cellphone buyers decreased from 1.600957 billion to 1.579927 billion, a drop of 21.03 million. The amount of landline people reduced from 190.83 million to 189.99 million, a fall of 840,000.

 

I really hope that's an economic downturn and not a huge number of virus victims being lied about.

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28 minutes ago, Duke Bushido said:

I know the vast majority of you folks are urbanites, 

 

but do you have any idea how difficult it is for me to _imagine_ a population so large that you could "hide" the loss of even a _thousand_ people?! Let alone damned near 22 million.....

 

Complete state control of everything.  

Russia only reports about 400+ cases.  Skepticism runs rampant as to that figure's accuracy.  North Korea still claims 0...and no one buys that.

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I hate tele-commuting. With the fire of a thousand suns. 

 

Some ass said on a conference call today "I wonder if people will change their behavior and this will be the new normal". Nearly bit their head off.

 

"I will not be accepting your damn Zoom meeting invite after this incident. I'm not available for that, but I can be in the conference room at the same time. Let me know if you can make it."

 

Grrrr. New normal indeed

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Just got back from a short 20-minute walk outside. First time I've been out of my apartment in several days. There's very little traffic on the street, and I saw...two other pedestrians? One waiting at a bus stop, one pushing a shopping cart (too far away to see if it was a homeless person or someone policing carts from the nearby Albertsons). 

 

In a bit of good news, I videoed(?) my girlfriend while on my walk. She sent a video back--she got to tell one of her patients that he tested negative for COVID, so he gets to go home tomorrow. So there's that.

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5 hours ago, ScottishFox said:

I've been marveling at the lack of Corona virus cases in China lately and then I saw this.

 

https://abc14news.com/2020/03/24/21-million-chinese-cellphone-users-disappear-in-three-months/

 

The quantity of cellphone buyers decreased from 1.600957 billion to 1.579927 billion, a drop of 21.03 million. The amount of landline people reduced from 190.83 million to 189.99 million, a fall of 840,000.

 

I really hope that's an economic downturn and not a huge number of virus victims being lied about.

 

That's a strange site. It's not really associated with a TV station, even if the name looks like it is. And all of the articles that I looked at had Brandon G. Jones as the reporter. Are there any corroborating stories for this?

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1 hour ago, Iuz the Evil said:

I hate tele-commuting. With the fire of a thousand suns. 

 

Some ass said on a conference call today "I wonder if people will change their behavior and this will be the new normal". Nearly bit their head off.

 

"I will not be accepting your damn Zoom meeting invite after this incident. I'm not available for that, but I can be in the conference room at the same time. Let me know if you can make it."

 

Grrrr. New normal indeed

 

I respect your reaction, and to an extent I share it. The lack of the actual physical presence of other people during this outbreak has had a definite effect on my mood. But the "new normal" creeps up on us, almost without noticing it. This forum is full of old fogeys like us; but how often do even we talk to a bank teller rather than use an ATM? Wait in line for a checkout clerk if there's automated checkout available? Walk to a store when we could order online? Book tickets to a movie, or airline, or reserve a hotel, in person or even by 'phone instead of electronically? Heck, when was the last time we sent a snail-mail letter to someone rather than an email? Or watched television as a family, instead of our own programs on our own individual screens? And that's just changes within our lifetimes.

 

If enough people want a certain way of doing things, that will become the standard. And we'll either have to adapt, or withdraw.

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Just now, Lord Liaden said:

 

I respect your reaction, and to an extent I share it. The lack of the actual physical presence of other people during this outbreak has had a definite effect on my mood. But the "new normal" creeps up on us, almost without noticing it. This forum is full of old fogeys like us; but how often do even we talk to a bank teller rather than use an ATM? Wait in line for a checkout clerk if there's automated checkout available? Walk to a store when we could order online? Book tickets to a movie, or airline, or reserve a hotel, in person or even by 'phone instead of electronically? Heck, when was the last time we sent a snail-mail letter to someone rather than an email? Or watch television as a family, instead of our own programs on our own individual screens? And that's just changes within our lifetimes.

 

If enough people want a certain way of doing things, that will become the standard. And we'll either have to adapt, or withdraw.

Human beings are reliable in a number of ways. They're so relentlessly social that they will bond with complete strangers around the shared experience of having nobody to bond with. 

 

I'm not concerned my response will be atypical. 

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1 hour ago, Ternaugh said:

 

That's a strange site. It's not really associated with a TV station, even if the name looks like it is. And all of the articles that I looked at had Brandon G. Jones as the reporter. Are there any corroborating stories for this?

 

I believe it was originally from the Epoch Times though that is behind a pay wall.

 

Breitbart also picked it up though I try not to get my news there.

 

Also found a reasonably polished youtube channel that said the same thing and had a lot of other interesting bits and interviews with Chinese locals.

 

 

Edited by ScottishFox
Better source?
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Very eerie thing happened this evening. I stepped out into the backyard and guess what I heard? Nothing. It was absolutely silent. No automotive sounds, no dog barks, just utter, deafening silence. I live in the middle of suburbia near the main avenue, and I always hear something. The silence really gave me pause. 

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Ah, the NTD News site had better information.

 

They say at least 15 million of the missing 21 million users can be explained by low-end cash accounts that could have simply stopped being used during the economic downturn.

 

They also point out that Chinese businesses can't re-open until they go 14 days with 0 cases so...  that's what people are reporting despite locals reporting that they are still having new cases.

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Ahh...well ok.  We still don't trust China, tho.  

 

The ABC14News site looks rather fishy, thanks for pointing that out.  They don't list their writers, for example, and their About Us info is not encouraging.

 

We've certainly had stories like this mushroom, so the fact that several no-name, no-reputation sites have picked up the same story just shows contagion, not corroboration.  And Breitbart?  No comment.

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