Blue Mountain - COVID-19 Update

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

43 minutes ago, toast21602 said:

In other news, with everything closed down there have been no school shootings in a month since March 2002! 

Well that’s some good news...although sales of bulletproof backpacks are likely down. 

[Kyle]

Hey look, the government gave me some of my money back 

[toast21602]

4 minutes ago, Kyle said:

Hey look, the government gave me some of my money back 

What did you get at Lowe’s? Was it crowded when you went?

[PSUFrankenstein]

I got my money today too...

 

42 minutes ago, toast21602 said:

What did you get at Lowe’s? Was it crowded when you went?

Lowe's here has been insanely crowded.  Like a usual Saturday, it's going to be a nice day so we'll do some work outside....that kind of crowd every single day.  I did an online order and picked it up so I didn't deal with any people other than the customer service desk.  Some stuff you can't order online though for store pickup.  

[Kyle]

1 hour ago, toast21602 said:

What did you get at Lowe’s? Was it crowded when you went?

Grass seed, and I ordered for curbside pickup, so unsure of how crowded it was inside the store. The parking lot pretty full, but considerably less than normal. 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I’ve never been to Loews.  

[toast21602]

24 minutes ago, Kyle said:

Grass seed, and I ordered for curbside pickup, so unsure of how crowded it was inside the store. The parking lot pretty full, but considerably less than normal. 

Ah I need to pick up some lumber. I don't think I can do that curbside, unfortunately. I'll have to look into it. Thanks.

[trackbiker]

Just now, toast21602 said:

Ah I need to pick up some lumber. I don't think I can do that curbside, unfortunately. I'll have to look into it. Thanks.

You wouldn't want to do that at Lowes or Home Depot. Their wood is not the best grade of lumber. You usually have to pick through half of the skid to get a few good pieces.

[Schif]

1 hour ago, Kyle said:

Hey look, the government gave me some of my money back 

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees it this way. Give me some of my own money back and then whack me for taxes again next Friday. 

[PSUFrankenstein]

Yeah I need a bunch of lumber too to start on my daughter's playhouse/swingset thing.  There's a smaller hardware store with good quality lumber near my parents...I may go there, pay for what I need, and have my dad pick it up with his truck

[toast21602]

6 minutes ago, trackbiker said:

You wouldn't want to do that at Lowes or Home Depot. Their wood is not the best grade of lumber. You usually have to pick through half of the skid to get a few good pieces.

I'm just replacing a piece on my raised garden bed before planting. I don't need anything special.

[tarponhead]

Worldwide gonna pass the 2 million confirmed positives today

[NMSKI]

Not sure I agree with all of this because I'm more in the "you can't put a price on human life" camp, but I found this to be an incredibly interesting read:

https://freopp.org/a-new-strategy-for-bringing-people-back-to-work-during-covid-19-a912247f1ab5

 

 

[toast21602]

5 minutes ago, NMSKI said:

Not sure I agree with all of this because I'm more in the "you can't put a price on human life" camp, but I found this to be an incredibly interesting read:

https://freopp.org/a-new-strategy-for-bringing-people-back-to-work-during-covid-19-a912247f1ab5

 

 

I read that last evening and it is definitely an interesting perspective and a lot of the suggestions are relevant and make sense. My only concern is that a lot of it relies on testing, which is still a failure. IMO the only way to start 'opening up' the economy is to have more robust testing, but what do I know. My fear is this one-sided push to open everything back up and get 'back to normal' is just going to create a second infection bubble and then push back any normalcy even longer.

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

8 minutes ago, NMSKI said:

Not sure I agree with all of this because I'm more in the "you can't put a price on human life" camp, but I found this to be an incredibly interesting read:

https://freopp.org/a-new-strategy-for-bringing-people-back-to-work-during-covid-19-a912247f1ab5

 

 

Wow the average small business has only 27 days worth of cash reserves. The payroll protection money will help some businesses stay solvent for a little longer but if this goes on as long as some say there is going to be a ton of bankruptcy 

[Kyle]

1 hour ago, Schif said:

I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees it this way. Give me some of my own money back and then whack me for taxes again next Friday. 

Yup, this pales in comparassion to the taxes that were taken out of my bonus two weeks ago. 
 

I can’t complain too much though as I’m still working and getting full salary. 

[JFskiDan]

47 minutes ago, toast21602 said:

I read that last evening and it is definitely an interesting perspective and a lot of the suggestions are relevant and make sense. My only concern is that a lot of it relies on testing, which is still a failure. IMO the only way to start 'opening up' the economy is to have more robust testing, but what do I know. My fear is this one-sided push to open everything back up and get 'back to normal' is just going to create a second infection bubble and then push back any normalcy even longer.

As much as i want to get back to work, and start living life somewhat normal again, (a decent paycheck sure would be a nice thing) people need to understand things wont be "normal" for quite some time.  I think once people start to go back to work, they let their guard down.  I know 90% of our employees stop at some type of convenience store on their way to work.  In my opinion, this is just opening up pandoras box again.  We are starting to put together some measures at work for safety, but there is a huge big picture here people need to see, and be aware of.  

47 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

Wow the average small business has only 27 days worth of cash reserves. The payroll protection money will help some businesses stay solvent for a little longer but if this goes on as long as some say there is going to be a ton of bankruptcy 

Yeah, think outside your little box for just one minute here. Maybe, some type of construction company with about 100 employees or so......probably have a few million dollars in loans for equipment at any given time.  you do the math.  

[PSUFrankenstein]

16 minutes ago, JFskiDan said:

Yeah, think outside your little box for just one minute here. Maybe, some type of construction company with about 100 employees or so......probably have a few million dollars in loans for equipment at any given time.  you do the math.  

I don't think Doug fits in a "little box" 😄

But I agree with both you and Doug.  Most business have a lot of overhead that eats up the cash reserves really fast when there's no positive income coming in.  Even businesses that are still open are incurring a lot of extra expenses with extra cleaning and safety supplies, etc.

If this continues for a while, a lot of business won't make it.  

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

20 minutes ago, JFskiDan said:

As much as i want to get back to work, and start living life somewhat normal again, (a decent paycheck sure would be a nice thing) people need to understand things wont be "normal" for quite some time.  I think once people start to go back to work, they let their guard down.  I know 90% of our employees stop at some type of convenience store on their way to work.  In my opinion, this is just opening up pandoras box again.  We are starting to put together some measures at work for safety, but there is a huge big picture here people need to see, and be aware of.  

Yeah, think outside your little box for just one minute here. Maybe, some type of construction company with about 100 employees or so......probably have a few million dollars in loans for equipment at any given time.  you do the math.  

Dan are you collecting unemployment now but still receiving health insurance?  

[Barb]

Our governor making noises that data sharing technology could be used post virus (to keep us safe of course).  Such bullshit.

[theprogram4]

I might be the only person in both Montgomery and Chester county who wears a mask going out smh

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

1 hour ago, Barb said:

Our governor making noises that data sharing technology could be used post virus (to keep us safe of course).  Such bullshit.

Shit is turning into 1984 more than mad max!!

[NMSKI]

1 hour ago, Barb said:

Our governor making noises that data sharing technology could be used post virus (to keep us safe of course).  Such bullshit.

Did you read Edward Snowden's book?  I had never really considered my right to data privacy one way or another until I read that and I was blown away!

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

The Swiss are reopening in three phases...I imagine something similar like this happening here.  

 

https://www.thelocal.ch/20200415/inside-switzerlands-official-three-phase-plan-to-rollback-the-coronavirus-lockdown

Edited April 15, 2020 by GrilledSteezeSandwich

[AtomicSkier]

1 hour ago, NMSKI said:

Did you read Edward Snowden's book?  I had never really considered my right to data privacy one way or another until I read that and I was blown away!

Data privacy and security is a serious topic that most people are total oblivious to.  It's one of the reasons why I'll keep buying Apple products.  You are not their product, their hardware/services are their product.  You pay the "Apple Tax" so they don't have to sell your personal data for profit (like Google does).  There is a reason why Apple is in the hot seat over their device encryption and lack of backdoors.  They know that if a government backdoor exists, it'll be exploited by others.  But, I also don't believe that there should be a government backdoor.

Here's a good Last Week Tonight with Edward Snowden from a years ago.  Snowden puts data privacy and government surveillance into a topic everyone can wrap their heads around....dick pics.