nudge

Tried something new today... Buckwheat noodles with beef and mushrooms. Pretty good.

Voyager 2 is back online after 8 months of radio silence it's technology of the 70s...never fails to amaze me.

Terror attack in the inner city district of Vienna, carried out by multiple gunmen in 6 different locations, at least two dead and more critically injured. One assailant shot dead, one arrested, others on the run.

It wasn't meant to speak about arguments in favour or against lockdown to be honest, just an illustration of how the media (and government, to certain degree) sentionalises the stats and throws essentially meaningless numbers into your face thus fueling the state of fear without any in-depth factual analysis which would explain the situation to people in understandable terms without driving mass psychosis. You can easily report the actual situation and then argue in favour of more restrictive measures, based on the risk of exponential growth and whatnot, instead of masturbating over another daily record over and over again...

I think there is a way of avoiding all that, while also keeping the spread under control - namely, developing affordable, fast, accurate and easy to use tests that would enable people to easily test themselves at home and isolate if infected, thus allowing healthy people to return to normality instead of locking everyone down invariably whenever the number of infections spikes. That way you can have widespread regular testing that is not limited by lack of manpower and lab equipment, catch new infections early before the infected can unknowingly spread it, quarantine only those who are infected, and keep everything open with only limited restrictions.

This is what worries me most - what is the long term plan, if there is one at all? Especially if vaccines are unsuccessful or take a few more years to develop. Lockdowns won't eradicate the virus, just slow the spread to a certain degree, and once everything reopens, the spread picks up speed again and we're back to where we started, and then going into another lockdown shortly after. Surely governments can't be that crazy and realistically think that repeatedly implementing lockdown every few months is sustainable in a long run?

Protecting healthcare system from being overwhelmed is the main reason for lockdowns in most countries, the problem is when the argument is used simply for spreading fear or as an attempt to justify whatever measures governments worldwide decide to implement this week, without providing meaningful information that would actually justify it. So in the end you create two extremes in public opinion and people's attitudes - those who buy into the fear and panic completely and support any governmental decision without questioning it, and those who straight out deny the existence of the problem in the first place. None of these two positions are healthy, yet the official government communication and media have been reinforcing both, whether deliberately or not. Oh and yes, constant appeals to authority have been equally as annoying as disinformation - heaven forbid you dare to question the official line, the measures implemented, and the competence of politicians and expert panels - you're basically a paranoid conspiracy theorist and an incarnation of evil if you do. Funnily enough, those who are in the demographic you describe also were, in many cases, the loudest ones in the beginning downplaying the potential seriousness of the situation, then did a 180 at some point, and are now vehemently preaching the upcoming end of the world with almost religious devotion. Baffles me, but then people do tend to go from one extreme to the other, so I probably shouldn't be surprised. It just doesn't look like a moderate, balanced view that is flexible based on new facts is desirable anymore. Maybe it never was. Oh it's definitely been a very "interesting" time from a social psychologist's point of view; it's like seeing all theoretical concepts and behavioural experiments in action at once. Fascinating stuff, but also extremely frustrating at the same time.

A recent example from my neck of woods: Headline of the article: "New daily infections record! Situation critical: country's largest hospital running out of beds" Actual situation, if you bother searching for and reading actual official reports: 102 covid patients in the hospital in question, 8 of them in ICU. 415 hospitalised with 35 of them in ICU in the whole bloody country. Important detail: 42% of total beds in ICU and 70% of total oxygen beds in the country still unused. The dumb thing is, the information that actually matters isn't being reported, and you have to look for a while in order to find it. Reporting factual, not emotionally charged information doesn't sell I guess, so let's just spread fear and panic instead by printing sensationalised headlines and then wonder why people go crazy. It seems even the "reputable" (arguably) media sources have reached the bottom of tabloid-level shitpits lately.

The reporting in media worldwide has been nothing short of mass psychosis though. A NeW rEcoRd!!! KiLleR vIruS BrInGz DeATh!!! Well guess what, it's been going on for over 10 months already; reporting new numbers and spinning endless articles about how long the virus survives on a plastic packaging in the freezer at -18 degrees does absolutely nothing anymore now that it has spread everywhere; other than make people more annoyed and feed into their fears and insecurities.

Atacama desert This phenomenon usually occurs every five to seven years when rains cause buried seeds to germinate and flower.

Too late. It was OK, the duck was tender and juicy, the apples inside were caramelised nicely, the oven roasted potatoes were great, but I didn't really like the sauce. Too sweet & sour for my liking, but then I also don't like wine or honey in the first place, so I don't know what I was even thinking when I decided to make it Here's a pic from the last time I made it. Pardon the cutting, I realised I didn't have poultry scissors or even the carving fork, so had to butcher it with a knife.

New episode of Warrior is out, @Bluewolf

Bought two whole ducks today, so will be making roast duck stuffed with apples and red wine-honey-orange sauce for All Saints' Day on Sunday

Fucking awful Quite an overexaggeration, no? He made his Bundesliga debut at 31 when the club was in a dire position with all the injuries and relegation threat, did a better job than what was expected from him, performing better than the so-called regulars at times, and still continues to do the same this season. Absolutely deserved contract extension, not sure why such an outrage. It's not as if he's taking the spot of someone else in the squad. Guess it's time for you to accept the new reality of where we are as a club.

What's so bleh about it? He doesn't even have a professional contract, so the cost is extremely low, and while nothing spectacular, he's a cheap solid backup option to have for both CB and especially DM. Reliable when needed, good work rate, calm on the ball, decent passing, wins most of the challenges he goes into. If we suddenly come across a money tree next season and sign a proper defensive midfielder, Groß will be an emergency backup or will go back to U23. But if our financial woes continue or get worse, we'll be glad to have someone who's not on crazy wages and still can play at a decent level...

I agree, especially considering that developing young players is supposed to be our long-term strategy, it makes even more sense. Wouldn't mind Sargent as the only striker with Rashica and Chong on the wings, Bittencourt as a #10, and Eggestein with Mbom in central midfield, but that's probably too much harakiri against Frankfurt...

Yes, keep on watching, the series cover that all in detail... It's crazy how the engineers who actually tried to intervene and get the launch delayed still felt guilty and blamed themselves for the rest of their lives, whereas NASA management who decided to launch despite knowing the risks and ignoring them said they did not feel guilty at all and would have made the same decision again, because they thought it was the right decision Mental.

112 days to go.

More like they died because NASA violated its own safety rules by ignoring numerous warnings from the solid rocket booster manufacturer regarding the O-Rings issue for years prior to the incident, and decided to launch despite Thiokol key engineers being strongly against it on the day of the launch. Episode 4 made me furious.

@Bluewolf

Christian Groß has extended his contract

Chong was already in the squad against Hoffenheim. Agu is still in quarantine.

Yes, currently in physiotherapy/reha in Berlin until next week...

Don't worry, he's not fit for the Frankfurt match. Sargent the only striker now, Woltemade maybe an option although Kohfeldt seems to have decided to play him in midfield, Dinkci might be included in the squad.

Now that would be quite a lineup!