Nerm

I agree about just cutting the checks. I think it is far more important to get them out fast, than it is to make sure that wealthy people do not get them. You can figure out later how to get money back from people who didn't need it. That would be a lot easier than predicting who doesn't need it based on their income in prior years.

I have been wrong before, and I am very hopeful that you come out of this being able to say "Ha, I told you so!" But the people that I talk to in the medical field who actually have face to face conversations with the people infected/or possibly infected are telling me that they don't see anything getting better in the near future. I could be part of an echo chamber losing perspective, but I am also a person who knows the actual people who came home from work today with no ability to change what is going to happen to the infected. I can't just tell myself "a lot of people die with the flu", when people treating it are telling me, how much worse this is than what they have ever seen before.

Here is an article that partially addresses your question from a mathematical point of view. Disclaimer: Please understand that the posting of this link does not indicate agreement with the content of the article, or suggest disagreement with the beliefs of anyone reading this thread. https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/03/18/the_perils_of_mass_coronavirus_testing_142693.html#2

As a person who has seen National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation more than 50 times, I have mixed feelings about this. I believe a Christmas tree can have a lot of sap, but still instantaneously combust a few days later. I'm going to go watch it again, but I'm pretty sure I will be proven correct on this.

I procrastinated so much before taking my Christmas lights down this year. If I jumped in on this, there is no way they come down for the next 10 months.

I would like to believe that this wouldn't be much worse than a bad flu season. 2 weeks back, I crossed my fingers that it would be an event to look back on and joke about, like the Y2K hysteria. But I am 46 years old, and what I have seen in this past week is unprecedented. There is just so much uncertainty right now. I'm self employed in the mental health field. I see clients in as very red state(South Dakota). I repeatedly hear that this whole thing is overblown. My no show/cancelation rate has jumped from 10% to 60% this week. Previous missed appointments were usually scheduled for the next week. Now, clients are saying "I'll call back next month if it looks like things are calming down. Here in SD, our state just announced that it has no materials to run any further tests, so good news South Dakota, your confirmed cases number will not rise for a while! My sister works for the largest health system in the state, she has been calling people when results were negative. Now she is calling to tell them they are not going to get any results in the near future. When you reach my age, you kind of get the feeling that you have enough life experience to know that ups and downs happen, and things will work out in the long term. I honestly don't have any idea at this point what next month will look like.

Here is another new option for entertainment during quarantine. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001106855/article/nfl-offers-fans-free-access-to-nfl-game-pass

I feel so blessed to have never signed in to Facebook since before Trump ran for president. I just have no interest. I also get 99.9% of all of Twitter blocked, only viewing carefully selected and filtered tweets. It is from a widget I found right here on this message board called @visionary.

Regarding Boeing /SpaceX, I follow a lot of discussions regarding the aerospace/rocket industry. There seems to be such frustration about Boeings NASA contracts, and more specifically the Space Launch System (SLS). It seems that once or twice per year there are announcements that the SLS deadlines are pushed back further, and the $ that Boeing is receiving will be increased. This leads to a lot of space enthusiasts being enraged about wasteful NASA spending that could be directed to hiring SpaceX to do the job faster and for much less money, because Boeing never gets any closer to completing the SLS. What I hear a lot of people inside the industry writing is that Boeing is meeting the actual goal of the program, just not the publically stated goal. They insist that the SLS is never supposed to actually fly. The goal of the SLS is to keep engineers in the rocket industry employed, primarily in Alabama. They claim the unstated goal of the program is to make sure that people stay in the industry, not to create something that would ever be used. Sounds like noble use of time for our nation's best and brightest.

I think there was a study a few years back evaluating Cramer's buy and sell recommendations over the first few years of his show. If you did the opposite of what he said , (i.e. short when he says buy, and buy when he says sell), you would come out way ahead. No idea if that still holds up for the past few years.

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/mar/16/joe-biden/biden-falsely-says-trump-administration-rejected-w/

Well, it is the point Biden and many dems are making. And it is the one that I am saying is false.

Ok, I usually tiptoe around these political debates, but I came in like a wrecking ball this time. I'm not saying that the administration did things well. I am just saying that it is untrue that the administration rejected tests that were offered. That is why fact check organizations are saying these claims are untrue... because they are untrue. Nope, never said that. Just that what Biden and others are saying is clearly untrue. The fact checkers agree with me on this, even the ones that strongly dislike Trump.

Do you understand the difference between an ingredient and a meal? There were no kits that the WHO was offering.

The WHO had a recipe to follow, and sent ingredients to underdeveloped countries. They did not have any kits to offer the US, and the administration didn't reject any such offer. It just isn't true. Yes they had a recipe, but not the actual tests.

So the WHO test recipe and ingredients were sent to under developed nations, but there was no kits offered to the US, and it is standard practice for developed nations to make their own, not have the WHO send them any test kits. It is just dishonest for dems to claim any tests were offered and rejected. There were no tests offered or rejected.

https://khn.org/news/biden-falsely-blames-trump-administration-for-rejecting-who-coronavirus-test-kits-that-were-never-offered/

There was no such thing as a WHO test. That is something that never existed. It is just a dishonest talking point to spread distrust of the administration during a national emergency. And I'm actually not being sarcastic this time.

Officially, I think that they will make 2 cuts free of charge, then charge 25cents per cut after that. But I have had up to 6 cuts on some panels, and have never been charged. The cuts made at the store I go to have been pretty precise. When I need to be exact, I have them cut it about 1/4 inch larger and cut it to size at home. I don't think they have ever been as much as 1/8 th of an inch off what I asked for.

Home depot will usually cut it down for you to a manageable size. I can fit sheets of plywood or particleboard cut down to around 3'x6' in my midsized car if I fold all the seats down. I do some woodworking for a hobby, and I have been able get by without a pickup so far.

My wife told me I was wrong about that, but I kept it in there because I thought it sounded funny. Honestly, I just try to find a place to sit in peace when my kids go into hot topic. What is actually in there is left to my imagination.

OMG. I never thought it would come to this. I have never been a gun owner, assuming that there would never be an apocalypse in our more enlightened world. But I feel like a moron now. Both Hot Topic and Bath & Bodyworks closing? I hate to say it, but it is every man for himself at this point... Somehow I am going to have to fight my way into the mall, UNARMED, and get my nipple piercing jewelry and scented lotions... then try to get out alive. I feel that I am a good person, but at some point, you have to realize that there is no such thing as society anymore. Just to make sure I am not misunderstood.... that was sarcasm, and I understand that there is a serious health issue in our nation.

He will just drink some giant breastmilk straight from the source, and be stronger than ever.

It would be amazing to see what stayed open and what was forced to close. I do outpatient mental health work. I also do various evaluations that are not related to treatment of mental disorders. So, I wonder where I would fit in. Professional ethics do not allow me to abandon treatment, but I wonder who gets to decide what appointments are necessary, and which are not. Similarly, a big reason for states legalizing marijuana has been due to the medicinal properties of the drug. Do marijuana dispensaries stay open, even if only some of the customers are seeking it as treatment for a medical issue?

I predict that regardless of what policies are implemented in the next days/weeks... the vast majority of political commentators who have spent the last three years criticizing Trump will continue to criticize him and will be outraged by the policies...and the vast majority of commentators who have spent the past few years praising Trump will continue to praise him and the policies that are enacted. I'm not saying I can see into the future, but I have a pretty strong feeling about this.