CoronaVirus ==> Empty Shelves

[FenceFurniture]

Sounds very similar to Zoom FF. It will be fun learning something new, it’s just the time frame.

Yeah, well everyone (management, teachers, students) has to be patient about that sort of thing. The ENTIRE country - to a person - is on a learning curve with all sorts of twists and turns. The curve is steep and long, and with many branches. There'll be mistakes, hiccups and frustrations. Maybe even deferrals. Lola just deferred her own studies at Sturt until next term because there is just too much going on (also does random work for Sydney Uni and Laureate). Apart from anything else she got flooded out on Feb 9th in the big wet weekend, and had to move out instantly. From nothing unusual going on to moved out completely within 72 hours. AND she was working every day in Sydney at the time. The carpet cleaning guy and I took out 350 litres of water from a room smaller than 3x3m.

[Bushmiller]

Sounds very similar to Zoom FF. It will be fun learning something new, it’s just the time frame.

I heard something on the radio (RN) about a conferencing type programme. It may have been zoom, but whatever it was it could host up to 40 people at once and was really only limited by the speed/capacity of your operating system, which for some of us could be an issue.

Regards
Paul

[Bushmiller]

As predicted, Virgin Airlines has started rattling the begging bowl for a staggering $1,400 million. Must admire their chutzpah.

According to their last financial report (2019) they lost about $1,000 million in the previous two years, and had balance day "interest-bearing liabilities - bank loans and bonds - of just over $3,000 million. Because they are not trading profitably they must borrow even more just to pay the interest!

Last week they had a market capitalisation of around $600 million. With debt of $3,000 mill their debt:equity ratio is a staggering 5:1. This is well into junk bond territory. Any D:E ratio above 2:1 is usually viewed as adventurous. And the company owes another $1,700 mill to its clients for airfares paid in advance.

And the company has virtually no collateral - almost all its aircraft are leased. Oh, and the lease payments must still continue even though the fleet is not flying.

And they want a loan of $1,400 milllion, even though they have virtually zero ability to make interest payments in the foreseeable future or to may loan repayments. If approved it will become a grant, not a loan - shall we call it a zero interest non-repayable loan?

Virgin has about 10,000 employees; That $1,400 mill amounts to $140,000 per job.

Pure chutzpah.

Graeme

Just on the subject of chutzpah may I bring in a small degree of humour and relate a story? It goes like this.

A Jewish gentleman is having an appointment with his divorce lawyer and the conversation goes along these lines:

Lawyer: How can I help you?

Gentleman: I wish to divorce my wife.

Lawyer: OK. What would be the grounds for the divorce?

Gentleman: It's because of a chutzpah!

Lawyer: OK. Leave it with me.

They make a time for a follow up appointment and the Jewish gentleman takes his leave. The lawyer immediately rushes into his secretary and asks her what the hell a chutzpah is. She doesn't know, but promises to find out. When she comes back to him she triumphantly declares it is yiddish for an insult. At the next appointment the conversation goes like this.

Lawyer: Welcome back. Now I understand that you would like me to progress your divorce because your wife has insulted you.

Gentleman: No. no, no, no, you don't understand.

Lawyer: I'm sorry?

Gentleman: Let me explain. If you come home unexpectedly and find your wife engaged in a sexual act with another man that is an insult. If your wife continues with the activity and calls out "Stick around, you might learn something!" THAT'S a chutzpah!

Is the Virgin airline trying it on?

Regards
Paul

Edit: Is the Virgin Airline requesting an immaculate concept?

[doug3030]

So, its April Fools Day in two hours, what are you guys going to do to top what has happened every other day?

This I've gotta see.

[woodhutt]

Interesting report from the UK yesterday about two unrelated cases of murder in family homes, The police say they are not looking for anyone else in connection with either case. Seems like lock-down is finding the cracks in relationships. I suspect the suicide rate will also climb but have not seen any stats on that yet. Also, I don't like the way SWMBO looks at me while she's using the breadknife. Pete

[riverbuilder]

Yeah, well everyone (management, teachers, students) has to be patient about that sort of thing. The ENTIRE country - to a person - is on a learning curve with all sorts of twists and turns. The curve is steep and long, and with many branches. There'll be mistakes, hiccups and frustrations. Maybe even deferrals. Lola just deferred her own studies at Sturt until next term because there is just too much going on (also does random work for Sydney Uni and Laureate). Apart from anything else she got flooded out on Feb 9th in the big wet weekend, and had to move out instantly. From nothing unusual going on to moved out completely within 72 hours. AND she was working every day in Sydney at the time. The carpet cleaning guy and I took out 350 litres of water from a room smaller than 3x3m.

Im still waiting for the power to be fully restored from that same storm. Only a 20 amp total supply since they restored it 23 DAYS after the event. Haven’t been able to use any big machines since then, been very frustrating.

[FenceFurniture]

There'll be a lot of strange tales come out of this situation, but how about two people locked down in a 29m² apartment in Toronto. (that's 2x my shed)

[Bushmiller]

I had to reassure SWMBO that lockdown was nothing to do with BDSM.

Regards
Paul

[Tccp123]

I had to reassure SWMBO that lockdown was nothing to do with BDSM.

Regards
Paul

Opportunity lost!

[Bushmiller]

As a group we have been extremely critical of the reluctance to act. Should Australia begin to be proactive? For example there is now some controversy over the public/private hospital systems particularly following the cancellation of elective surgery. I noticed in the following report that a field hospital has been built in Central Park. Now I am not suggesting for one moment that the Australian situation is anywhere near that of New York, but I would expect that such arrangements should be ready to go at the click of fingers if it became necessary.

Coronavirus death toll in US passes China, but Beijing is missing figures

The same report mentions that China has conceded asymptomatic patients were not previously included in their stats. My take on that is it is a face saver to enable them to "up" the numbers without admitting it wasn't the full truth. If my assumption is correct it would then lead on to a situation there that is much less in control than the Chinese have been saying and they are most concerned tending towards edgy.

Regards
Paul

[Tccp123]

I was just reading about the good fortune of Queensland public servants who are apparently due for a 2.5% pay rise and a cash bonus of $1,250, lucky them. This is despite the current Covid-19 crisis. Apparently there are 224,000 of the little buggars, of whom “More than two-thirds of Queensland public sector FTE (67.29 per cent) are women”. In an apparent demonstration of co-operation they are participating in an "all-staff" ballot that opened last week to approve the rise. I wonder if it will get over the line?

And why have I not noticed any protests about the obvious gender imbalance?

[FenceFurniture]

I wouldn't trust any of the Chinese figures at all, at any stage (past, now, future). Like Russia, Iran, DPRK and any similar states, they think they have a point to prove.

[doug3030]

And why have I not noticed any protests about the obvious gender imbalance?

Good question! I am wondering why the feminists aren't up in arms about so many women being equal with men in low-paid jobs instead of being equal with the men in higher paid jobs.

[FenceFurniture]

And why have I not noticed any protests about the obvious gender imbalance?

Best alert Bettina Arndt.

[woodPixel]

The same report mentions that China has conceded asymptomatic patients were not previously included in their stats. My take on that is it is a face saver to enable them to "up" the numbers without admitting it wasn't the full truth. If my assumption is correct it would then lead on to a situation there that is much less in control than the Chinese have been saying and they are most concerned tending towards edgy.

If you want to see some clanger examples of Chinese hypersensitivity and edginess, check out the links below.

The responses by the "50 Cent Army" are unhinged. The delusion, paranoia and reality distortion is impressive. Even more impressive is the mental gymnastics employed to "explain" an issue, and worse.... the stunning revisionism, complete reversals of opinion (followed by absolute denial it was said in the first place) and historical recasting/denial.

At first I was convinced it was satire. Some form of highly advanced sarcasm that I didn't "get".... but no, its real. These are real people making real responses.


Sino: News, Information, Discussion on all things China and Chinese Related -- This one really takes the cake. Its so blatant that I really did this it was like "The Onion". Its not. They are serious.
Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) -- The "Official" CV sub. They are super-hypersensitive to comments/content seen as (in ANY way) anti-China. Its blatant.
r/中国 -- Not so bad, but the trolls (called, interestingly, Wu Mao) infect here too.


Its amazing how bad the propaganda is. All governments employ it and some people even eat it up, but I'm really amazed at the intensity of Chinese patriotism. The hypers of the USA are bad, but the WuMao are... extraordinary. They utterly believe it.


We need to be vigilant of what is considered to be The Truth. Our own governments are hard into spin control and message manipulation. Thankfully, we are also completely aware of their incompetence!