Covid19

[Tom_C]

1 hour ago, MadManMike said:

But you already can do that? (Aside from street riding technically being illegal in a lot of cases even in normal circumstances)

The question of "should you do stuff that might land you in hospital" is still valid of course, but there's nothing stopping you from getting exercise on a bike.

I don't know if it's nationwide, but Bristol has closed things like pump tracks, basketball courts, tennis courts etc, but you're still allowed to exercise. As long as you're riding solo I can't see a problem - you can't spread it if there's nobody there to spread it to.

It's obviously a responsibility to not be that person who sprains their ankle riding home and ending up needing treatment so it's tough to weigh up the risks of enjoying yourself without taking any more risk than usual. Riding enduro I've definitely had to check myself to just enjoy being out and attack the climbs and not the downhill. 

[Matt24.]

I'd imagine like most people I am just trying to strike the right balance to navigate the situation as best I can. My hour out pootling about on my trials bike has been a god send to my mental health. My wife and I have been balancing full time jobs whilst looking after a 14 month year old and that small bit of release most days has kept us happy as a couple and parents. I don't mind people thinking I shouldn't do it as that is how they have interpreted the instructions. But I think this situation will be calmer and more enjoyable for all if everyone has some empathy towards others and allowing people within reason to get through it as best they can.

[Matt24.]

Also - just to add on the injury & exercise point, the people who have suddenly taken up jogging after 10 years of inactivity or are riding a bike for the first time in 15 years are definitely more of a risk than I am at causing an injury to put themselves in A&E. Most people however would say they are biding by the rules and getting out the house to keep active. Trials bikes have always been my primary source of exercise and at this point in life it is safer for me to carry on with something I have done for 17 years than start a new form which is more likely to injure me.  

[forteh]

Well I'm back in the office full time tomorrow because the production manager needs to get in and schedule the upcoming works we've got to carry out. He can't lone work so I've got to keep him company as I live the closest to the office.

The rest of the staff are still on another two weeks furlough because the muppet accounts clerk took two weeks to submit the claim, hence legally people have only been on furlough now for 1 week or so and the company will get nothing if people go back to work now. Puts me in a bit of a quandary because manufacturing drawings that I am producing now need to be checked and the only people who can check them (iso audit prevents self checking and approval) are furloughed

 

[Duncy H]

So I returned to the bike shop I worked at part time alongside my photography and have been back a month. I have solely been building bikes locked away in an old workshop and this week ticked over 220 bikes in total that I've built since going back. They've been selling like hot cross buns. I foresee a problem that within this next week or two the supply of bikes is going to have completely dried up likely countrywide for low to mid range bikes. There's currently 14 bikes left in the shop in total when usually I'd guess there's easily 100 on display and many more stored away to be built. I'm somewhat expecting I could be laid off if that is the case and although I've had a few nibbles not got much photo work booked in. Anybody want to hire a bike mechanic/photographer? 

I should have been moving my life permanently to Canada right about now too, my visa should have been due a month ago but that looks likely to be severely delayed and their (understandable) travel restrictions are making me think that I'd be extremely lucky if I can even consider moving by the end of the year. I've not been with my partner since November. 

Tough and trying times on my brain box possibly ahead for me although I appreciate I've likely got it very good compared to others. If shit does hit the fan I do have a new gravel bike on the way to adventure on, a personal video project I could finally invest some time in and build a deck for my parents. 

Thankyou TF for being a strange avenue to vent some thoughts.

[Luke Rainbird]

Ah man, that's a strong effort on the bikes-built-counter, but pretty weak everywhere else. How are you and Mrs Dunc coping with it all? I know things are pretty out of your hands so I expect there's an element of "just get on with it" as needs to be the case, and perhaps being relatively long-distance helps too compared to being used to seeing someone every few days, but can't be pleasant regardless. 

Some of the content you've been putting out has been genuinely awesome so I'm sure there'll be plenty of folk wanting to get you on their projects, it's just a case of whether or not projects are going ahead I guess.

If you get reeeeeeeeeeally stuck I'll employ you to show me which end of a camera to point at things. I can't pay money, but you creatives work for exposure, right? 

[Tom Booth]

A mate of mine runs a small LBS and hes faced the same situation as you guys Dunc, totally just out of bikes which is a strange situation really..

Sorry to hear your situation too man with the visa etc, sucks that its put pay to that but hopefully long term it'll all come good!

 

[Duncy H]

Cheers Luke, fortunately in my time I’ve not had to dodge too many ‘I can give you exposure/it’ll boost your portfolio’ bullets, maybe that’s cause I’m fairly strict with it. 

Me and my partner have done some weird setups in our time, initially short distance in Canada, then slightly shorter with a ferry inbetween, then back to slightly further, then living together in Canada, then living together in the U.K. and now super long distance. So we’ve ticked most boxes of how it’s done ha. We’re both dealing with it as good as can be really, just plodding on.

There’ll be a big sigh of relief at the end of all this for sure.

[Rusevelt]

On subject of struggling business under the pandemic and gov restrictions, has anyone noticed the boom in cycling demand. The number of the small private bike shop businesses I've visited in London over the past couple of weeks are just totally overrun with repairs, servicing and bike builds. 

[Davetrials]

friend of mine runs a shop and is rammed! nothing but good news there!

[J.KYDD]

Yep, got a few mates still in the bike shop/industry and they've all been absolutely flat out

[Davetrials]

The pictures in the news of the pubs are a mess, Time to settle in for another lock down

[MadManMike]

4 hours ago, Davetrials said:

The pictures in the news of the pubs are a mess, Time to settle in for another lock down

That's the problem with the news, they find the very worst things and convince people it's the reality.

I went out for beers yesterday in Bristol and we struggled to get in to most places, they were letting very few in and they were being sensible about it.

We were sort of expecting total carnage and it was nothing like that, civilised, quiet and distanced...

[MadManMike]

On Facebook there's been a clear divide in terms of what we should be doing, so I thought I'd ask the question here, as people seem to be a bit more rational on TF compared to FB...

If you're in the camp of "People having beers are selfish c*nts and people who had haircuts are tw*ts" (Not my words, but actual quotes from FB yesterday...), how do you think we should be playing it?

I think a lot of my friends on FB are expecting it just to blow over, so we should wait until it's gone - that's not going to happen, is it?

The way I see it is that we had lockdown to "flatten the curve", not to stop the virus. I think it's inevitable that we'll all get it at some point, we just wanted to avoid flooding hospitals, which we achieved... Of course we still need to be sensible and limit the spread as much as we can, but we have to come out and do normal stuff sooner or later and I think delaying it will just delay whatever is going to happen (Second wave, etc...).

I also still believe that there won't be a second wave, I reckon most people have already had it and not even noticed, but time will tell on that one.

Either way, there's a hell of a lot of pandemic experts on FB at the moment, perhaps BoJo should have just employed some of them to handle the issue 

[Rusevelt]

https://www.vyzrtech.com/products/bio-vyzr

 

[Al_Fel]

 

[monkeyseemonkeydo]

23 hours ago, Rusevelt said:

https://www.vyzrtech.com/products/bio-vyzr

 

And you can hardly tell they're wearing anything at all. Not sure if serious...

[manuel]

I want one for work - looks like it might be waterproof...

 

lockdown2 looks like it will be as much fun as the first. Can’t wait.

[Al_Fel]

What's everyone's thoughts on the China virus now? Here's my take on it all.

There is a "level 4 bio lab" (whatever that means) in Wuhan, A lady called Shi Zhengli studied the virus and wanted to test it on primates.
According to the news someone ate a bat.

Bill Gates said there was going to be a world wide pandemic back in 2015 and he wanted all the governments to give him a small percentage of their money so he could prepare everyone for it. He also said he was going to give away most of his money but has actually doubled it. He's now making a vaccine for it.

The track and trace app has cost over £12billion and doesn't really work. The people running it are all pals of Boris Johnson.

For someone to be counted as a Covid-19 death they only have to had tested positive in the last 30 days of their life. So if you get killed by a bus but test positive for Corona virus that counts as a Covid death.

The test is for "Corona virus" which covers more than just Covid-19. If you book a test and don't show up then it will automatically count as a positive test.

 

That's my thought's and what I've seen. I'm not saying I know it all that just what I know. There's probably plenty of incorrect information in there but I'm always happy to be proven wrong and learn something.

[aener]

All of what you wrote might well be accurate, but that doesn't point to it being a conspiracy.

 

Lady studying the virus and wanting to test it on primates: That happens all the time in academia/science.

Bats are common quisine in some parts of the world.

Bill Gates said there would be a pandemic academically. There's one about every hundred years, and we were overdue. It's only the same as people saying certain volcanoes are going to errupt "imminently" because they have every 100,000 years for the past 3,000,000. People speak statistically, and other people interpret it literally.
Edit: Also - I feel like we can't really talk about his money. It's too messy and easy to mislead people. He might have given away most of his personal money (which he has in the past), but the whichever article you read might have been looking at the value of his trust fund which continues to grow, or any number of things. He's definitely not perfect (the main thing I hear of is sending western people to Africa (eg) to help build resources and stuff, when it would actually be better for all in that area if he paid people local to that area to do the work. Boost that economy and trade rather than just giving them a building (again, eg.)) - but I firmly believe he's a force for good, just with sometimes questionable methods.

The bottom three are all just a totally inept government making a huge mess of it.
The people running the app are obviously involved with the government because it's a government program.
It doesn't work because it's seen a laughably bad attempt at executing a fundamentally flawed (not to mention illegal-in-many-areas) idea, not because of some sinister motive.
The "assuming positive" things are weird, but I really don't feel it's anything to do with fudging numbers. Internationally, everyone is desperate to downplay their numbers so they look like they're handling it better than their neighbors.

 

 

Yes, the whole thing is a huge f**king mess and humans are making it infinitely worse for themselves, but every time you get a hint of the idea that it's an NWO type situation I beg of you to take a step back and think about all of the things they DON'T say in conspiracy theory videos.
I'm not saying ignore them completely, but those people are equally keen on duping you into thinking what they want you to as the government they are slandering are.

 

 

It does look intimidating, various bodies getting all these powers and restrictions on what people can and cannot do, but just think about motives.
Apart from any potential privatised vaccine, there is no motive for forcing people to stay apart and hate you as a ruling body, whilst also f**king up your economy.
People want power for money or prestige, and this whole situation is costing both of those, massively, for anyone currently in power.

This was my major issue with 1984. Everything in there - fine. Dystopias happen, suspension of disbelief, whatever. I just can't see that ever happening because there's no motive to have oppressive power and dominion just for the hell of it.
If you wanted that power to affect an end goal, that's one thing, but I just don't see it.

 

 

 

Sorry - that was a bit of a ramble, just didn't want it to turn into another Aliens thread.

Worrying - yes.
Showcasing how shit humans are (both those in charge and not) - yes.
Manufactured virus released on humanity in the name of grabbing power for some Deep State or other - no.

Edited October 31, 2020 by aener

[Al_Fel]

Do we just go along with everything then? Or is there a point where you should stand up and start questioning things?

[aener]

There is a point, but it's not yet.

I'm aaaaaaall for V-type action if it was ever at that point and constantly have to ask my partner's perspective of whether we're getting there or not, but this is different.
I would say we're at a point more like that if the numbers drop off/there's a vaccine and the new powers in various peoples' hands don't get relinquished.

Matlida's an ICU nurse and keen as a bean on keeping up to date with statistics and figures so I get a weird perspective of objective numbers, but also subjective stories of her patients.
I think it's easier to get your mind wrapped up in the conspiracy mindset when you're not hearing the first-hand stories. (Note: Definitely not a dig - I was 100% in that category until the first wave spread up north and I started hearing them.)

[Rusevelt]

Here we go again..

Edited October 31, 2020 by Rusevelt

[CC12345678910]

On 10/31/2020 at 11:33 AM, aener said:

Lady studying the virus and wanting to test it on primates: That happens all the time in academia/science.

My lack of faith in, well, er, anything really, but in this context, humanity as an overview, leads me to speculate/ponder that yes, there probs was or is a "create synthetic strains of crippling death lab" or multiples thereof, all over the world and I did read somewhere reputable enough (but I don't recall where) that lasso who ran that lab in wuhan was or is known to get her rocks off playing "higher power"/GTA 1 god view/generally f**king around w/stuff where the human race probably has no business going or researching or gaining knowledge about/from.

IF we tek that as a given, my lack of faith leads me to speculate/ponder that due to the human condition it [the releasing of the 'rona] may all be as simple as someone working in that lab/a lab like that was late for date night for the 3rd time in a row, looked at the (for want of a better mental image) radiation showers and went the china version of "argh f**k it-be reet-can do that at home-might even get t'other 'alf involved", they locked up f'night, took a shortcut through that wet market and because

Bats are common quisine in some parts of the world.

all he/she/non-conforming pansexual piece of vegan pasty has do is tap someone on the hand as a polite "your int' way and I could do with getting past you because busy/rushing/late for adult showertime" and your one minor cross contamination away from boom global pandemic...   

Bill Gates said there would be a pandemic academically. There's one about every hundred years, and we were overdue. It's only the same as people saying certain volcanoes are going to errupt "imminently" because they have every 100,000 years for the past 3,000,000. People speak statistically, and other people interpret it literally.

He, and probably 10 dozen other people/institutions/corporations could be construed as having motive for letting this shit out of pandora's box though, surely you concede that Flipp? I mean just consider the amount of dettol and purell type compounds the western world must be getting though on a daily basis, and the (my) mind does begin to play cluedo towards people like the Johnson empire, one arm is having a crack at a vaccine and being paid hand over fist for it even though it could be a sugar pill, meanwhile the dettol wipe production line must be doing backflips trying to supply demand...   

He's definitely not perfect (the main thing I hear of is sending western people to Africa (eg) to help build resources and stuff, when it would actually be better for all in that area if he paid people local to that area to do the work. Boost that economy and trade rather than just giving them a building (again, eg.)) - but I firmly believe he's a force for good, just with sometimes questionable methods. 

Emerging markets and all that... 

The bottom three are all just a totally inept government making a huge mess of it.
The people running the app are obviously involved with the government because it's a government program. 

It doesn't 'arf smell of brown envelopes and reach arounds and "shhh don't tell anyone" fund's in UBS and the caymans though? No more than everything in positions of power; public or private sector; blue or red rosette pinned on the 'exceedingly rich but I'm just a poor noble public sector servant, please pay my tab' parliamentry donkey.

  
It doesn't work because it's seen a laughably bad attempt at executing a fundamentally flawed (not to mention illegal-in-many-areas) idea, not because of some sinister motive.

I'm glad someone else picked up on that: A rock and a hard place between fundamentally not being to do it's job or being a bigger invasion of personal security than Alexa... I just assumed that they [the powers that be] just assumed that we'd all be so overjoyed at our leaders finding our salvation and giving back the key to the freedoms they bestow upon us that we the people would universally, willingly and without question or conflict, bend over and tek it. Orrr use the snoopers charter to make it all ok and legit... 

The "assuming positive" things are weird, but I really don't feel it's anything to do with fudging numbers.

It does if the narrative that week is "shit's gettin reel people, do as yur f**kin told and get the feck back in't house init" and that needs to be corroborated by pretty colours in the graphs bit of the 5 o'clock shafting briefing. Again due the human condition a tired or lazy or even shell-shocked person of responsibility will just stop giving a shit after long enough -

"Person xy appears to made friends with a freight train boss and they had a known long history of men..."

"Right it off as Covid"

"But boss the freight train and the blunt force trauma and th..."

"Yeah covid, deffo covid lad. Right, Pub? My shout..."

 

It does look intimidating, various bodies getting all these powers and restrictions on what people can and cannot do, but just think about motives.
Apart from any potential privatised vaccine, f**k me sideways is that not enough?? It creates a concept akin to a cross between lepers and early 1980's attitudes to HIV, where anyone not vaccinated will be deemed 'dirty'. And quite plausibly on the basis of not being able to produce a certain QR code at the spot check of the corona stazi: Meaning you'd be in societal judged peer enforced house arrest self isolation til you get stabbed with the "it'll be good for you" stick and can therefore in theory produce the correct QR code...Which 'they' hold...and any subordination is rewarded by going behind "the wall"...

there is no motive for forcing people to stay apart and hate you as a ruling body, whilst also f**king up your economy. 

Simple good old fashioned megalomania? The trillion dollar vaccine contracts? Pharma'll never be out if work? If the one's among us who can't hack it walk in to the tide with concrete boots on then the state doesn't have to vaccinate, care for, house, provide welfare for, provide infrastucture for, provide a state pension for, bury, cremate, or worry about their carbon emmissions. Need I go on? Need I consider the fat end o'wedge?

The concept is natural selection; jacked up on horse 'roids; with a bit of east Germany/GDR chucked in for flavouring. You could even construe the batpox as the chemical version of that shit film "the purge". It could also be "rat race" where the entire job's a bunch of spreadbets and spot fixing, and/or the mice [from hitchhikers] are having a reet old knees up laughing @ us siwwy humans.

And It very much could be a NWO, the "haves" & therefore the "cans", will f**k off to the moon with kim jong Elon, or colonise mars with Basos or taxi between the two on virgin galactic and the "have nots"/plebs like me'll be left here suffering the tyranical baby rattle shaking tantrums of Greta and her thunderite disciples without even the solitude that I could follow the "fortunate" into the Irish sea because the utilty bills need paying and as such my bereaved would sell my life's work in possessions for .1pence in the pound...

Worrying - yes.
Showcasing how shit humans are (both those in charge and not) - yes. f**king A.

"We've been givern ar freederms back! To Wetherspoons!"

:facepalm:

Maybe if your 1st thought after hearing news 24 saying "freedem lad init" was

"Siiiick...The winchester's open"

maybe just maybe you should tek one f'team as corona bait and let the rest of us use the freedoms you squandered...

Manufactured virus released on humanity in the name of grabbing power for some Deep State or other - no.

See^ 

*Not aimed at flipp, or anyone actually: Just tipsy gobshite ponderings. Sip up and beddybyes I tink. 

Edited November 2, 2020 by CC12345678910

[aener]

I have to be honest, I couldn't make much sense of most of that, but the parts I could sound like you missed or ignored what I intended my point to be.
That could well be because my post was a rambling turd too, so no biggie.

Things like splitting a sentence in half to object to a fragment of it when the other half addresses it. That's not how language works.

I'm not going to get into back-and-forthing because I don't know much about it, and it sounds a bit like you wouldn't want to hear it if I did, but just to clear one thing up:
I'm in no way denying that the virus could have originated in a lab. It could easily have gotten out. I just believe if it did, it was an accident rather than organised malice.