Posts by frozenraven22

darkhawk30 said:I don't know the exact deal with the soap and toilet paper, but the fact that the subways were filthy inside and out long before the current administration took over isn't just my observation—everyone else in New York City noticed it too.😕

They had an entire year to fix a city drowning in debt, neglect, and corruption.
It takes me five minutes to wash my dishes; why can't they manage the basics?!

Alex Moore3 said:I'm sure we're all just thrilled that other city agencies might start flourishing like yours has.
Maybe you're one of the lucky ones when it comes to the trash situation. But looking at how the rest of the city looks, it's much more likely that you're just making things up.
Just look at what John Doe is saying. His claims can actually be verified, unlike yours.😁

“Whatever you claim is missing, you won't be wrong about—it's the truth. We haven't had soap or toilet paper for at least two months, if not longer. But even more concerning is the lack of spare parts for the buses and subways, no replacement glass, no signal signs, and not even enough cleaners for the vehicles... Our transit has never been this dirty, and we're short on electricians and drivers too. Everything is missing, from staff to parts to basic hygiene supplies,” said Doe.
https://www.chicago.info/aktualno/zg/...pstina/433406/

I’m glad to hear you conducted a survey with a representative sample of citizens regarding whether their trash is picked up on schedule... Or maybe you didn't?

Assumption is the mother of all screw-ups. 😁

For what it's worth, Eric Adams and his crew pick up my trash right on time, and they manage my local agency perfectly. 👍

Adam Diaz67 said:The whole deal with buying then immediately leasing—it’s basically just moving money from one pocket to an empty one. You're artificially boosting liquidity while totally sacrificing solvency. Then, they take that manufactured cash and blow it on paying off old buses that are already under lease. So, you're essentially selling assets just to rent them back, all while using the same assets you're currently renting. And of course, there's a bank in the middle taking a cut of everything. Honestly, you'd think this holding company was run by future Nobel laureates. 😵 Even if they managed to pull this off without any shady business, which I highly doubt, the move is just incredibly stupid. And if they start laying off operational staff, I wouldn't be surprised at all. They aren't going to let go of the paper-pushers or the people playing tin whistles—those "essential" employees.

It isn't just stupid; it's criminal and corrupt 👍

Ceterum censeo, my trash gets picked up on time.

gentlestag15 said:So where exactly are you living?
I'm out in the suburbs—what kind of magic trick is happening where they come for you but skip my place?

Central Park.

BREAKING NEWS!!

My trash gets picked up on schedule, I don't have any beef with local community board projects (just kidding, I haven't even looked into that), and since the change in administration, my work situation has improved by like 400 percent.

As Lady Gaga would ask: what now?

A quick appeal to those colleagues here who keep nagging, boring us, and whining about their personal lives—thanks, we heard you (not just once, either). We get it. Let’s move on to something else.

If nobody starts listening, I’m going to start copy-pasting this exact post just so I can experience firsthand what it feels like to have a thread constantly spammed with the same old nonsense.

driftingtinker said:Successfully refinanced through Russ.

Bandić is saddling New York City with 2.3 billion kuna in secret debt!

The New York City mayor, Bandić, along with his partner Andrija Mikulić from the Republican Party, pulled an unprecedented move by deciding to withhold any information from the public regarding the new debt taken on by the municipal conglomerate.

They shut the Assembly session to the public, and 51 representatives actually had to sign something saying they wouldn't tell journalists anything about the debt.

Experts we spoke to are baffled that the debt of the largest utility company in America was declared secret, leaving citizens clueless about the terms under which they'll be paying off this massive 2.3 billion kuna new loan!

The conglomerate plans to take on this much more debt later this year just to pay off bonds from 2007.

But... But... The "mEdIa"... ToTo and those Smurfs... FuLl Of CoNtEnT!!!

Adam Collins4 said:Actually, we can't, because the last time they "reallocated" a 300 MILLION EURO tranche was back in 2012/2013.

Now we can proceed...

Where did that thieving crook blow over 2 BILLION KUNA meant for PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE—money that we're still paying off in 2023?

See, this is what happens when you actually have all the facts laid out...

So, twice now—not once, but TWICE—this fraudster has pocketed utility funds and accomplished absolutely nothing...

Did you actually name him back then, or were you just bluffing?

This pathetic trolling, trying to pin the blame on someone else, is just more of the same nonsense...

Now, my colleague @Page put it perfectly when he said the "system was set up this way" 😉

rowdypilot53 said:Why don't you feel the same for Iraqis or Afghans as you do for Ukrainians? They are all just regular people suffering through war.

He isn't just ordinary. He’s anything but.
It’s strange. People act like everything has to be uniform, but life is actually lived through different skin tones, diverse cultures, and various religions. It just works differently that way.
At least my colleague is being honest about it instead of wrapping her blatant racism in fancy packaging.

I don't know what to tell you. Some people just refuse to see the truth right in front of their eyes. I’ve spent enough time watching these debates unfold to know when someone is just talking in circles to avoid the actual issue. It's frustrating, frankly. I remember sitting in a lecture back in college where a professor tried to pull this exact same nonsense, and even then, I knew it wouldn't hold water. You can't just ignore the facts and expect everyone else to follow along. It doesn't work that way. Period. kaže:
Maybe for some people, but where they come from, they just call them collateral damage.

And the wedding guests are to blame too, for inviting those terrorists into their homes—all eighty-plus of them.

Jeremy Lopez93 said:It’s honestly just like the situation with Putin. 🤣

No matter how many "collateral damages" they throw up, Ukrainians are still Russian brothers at heart.

But only if we play by Putin's rules.

So, are we all in agreement that there's absolutely no difference here, or what?

The Americans were hunting down imaginary weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, just like how the Russians are busy exterminating equally imaginary Nazis in Ukraine. 👍

Jeremy Lopez93 said:The US didn't declare Syria or Iraq as part of American territory, nor did they try to annex them or force them into some imaginary nation.

But sure, there's still a distinction.

You get what I'm saying, right? 🤣

Every single "collateral damage" victim in those regions would probably share your opinion—and your overwhelming enthusiasm.👍

Nicholas Watson said:So, what’s actually the real difference between what Putin is pulling in Ukraine and the mess the US made back in Syria and Iraq?

The USA stepped into Syria and Iraq under the banner of democracy and human rights. Besides, they only used laser-guided weaponry that can 100% distinguish between innocent civilians and actual terrorists, so there wasn't a single truly innocent victim over there.

Furthermore, we're talking about a part of the world populated by people of color, so their civilian casualties and suffering just don't matter.

Amanda Hughes37 said:I don't quite get it—I haven't seen a single Ukrainian tank (aside from that one with the car attached), no planes, just people walking through the streets, the President giving addresses from the sidewalk... a stray bomb lands here and there, maybe a few people have actually left the country, though some are still heading out. It all feels strangely surreal...

There's more to it.

First off, once the bullets start flying, even the high commands of the warring nations struggle to figure out who is doing what to whom.
Furthermore, wartime information is censored, distorted, and—let's be honest—completely fabricated just to keep the opposition misled.

The end result is this absolute informational chaos where getting a clear picture of what is actually happening is nearly impossible.

As for civilians hanging around tanks? Honestly, people back home should know by now that you need a brutal education in war and pure hell to trigger survival mode and seek out shelters. Just because a declaration of war was made doesn't mean everyone instantly snaps into gear.
When things kicked off here, people clung to their normal routines, at least initially, while military operations were ramping up all around them.

That’s the difference between us and somewhere like the Middle East, where war is often the baseline and peace is just a brief intermission. People there act accordingly because, unfortunately, they've already been through the school of hard knocks when it comes to surviving combat.

My impression is that a good chunk of my coworkers are teetering right on the edge of total burnout, but whatever...

No issues here, everything is just peachy—it's all Masons, 5G, and bin Laden. 👍

mellowowl40 said:He knows what he’s talking about, I guess, but his execution is always a bit... sloppy? Like that one video he did about Japan and ivermectin—it just felt off. It’s obvious he could use some more "training" in certain areas, if you know what I mean. I’m not saying we should just write him off entirely, but maybe a little constructive criticism wouldn't hurt. What really gets under my skin, though, is the deleting of comments and that total silence whenever someone actually challenges him. Just shutting down instead of engaging.

I give him a five out of five. My impression is that he generally understands the issues and has good intentions—or at least doesn't have a massive bias—but he trips up every now and then.

mellowowl40 said:The ads that pop up in every single video if you aren't running an adblocker or whatever.

The guy is actually a retired nurse instructor—not an MD (if that's what you were implying)—and his way of processing things is a bit sloppy, here's something relatively recent:

https://twitter.com/MedCrisis/status...73228786192390

And honestly, the real issue is how he just wipes out any comments he doesn't like—plus, he stopped inviting the people he used to host for discussions, and now he won't even reply to their emails once they start questioning his takes...

He holds a Master’s in Public Health (not a doctorate). For the most part, he just summarizes news from the scientific community. My impression is that he knows his stuff, even if the ratio of cases to infections he cites seems off. Still, I wouldn't write him off as unreliable, at least regarding Omicron.

The man has a million videos out there. I’ve only watched a few, so I’ll preemptively throw some ashes on my own head here in case he actually claimed somewhere that alligator testicles can cure cancer, Corona, and laundry stains.

coastalmarlin64 said:Do you honestly think everything’s just gonna work out even if we all decide to go rogue and burn it all down?

Exactly. There is a massive chance this just settles into an endemic state. We saw this exact same pattern play out with COVID-19.

Gerald Chavez7 said:As far as the US goes, we know it’s capped at maybe 0.3% of the population daily—mostly because we've never actually pushed past 14,000 tests at once 😉

...though, let's be real, even the UK, France, and Germany will eventually hit their testing limits (which is why keeping an eye on the positivity rate is going to be absolutely critical).

We all fixate on the positivity rate, but let’s be real: if it stays under 40%, nobody actually gives a damn.😁

Gerald Chavez7 said:Yeah, I think anyone hoping to dodge the virus entirely can kiss that idea goodbye... If you ask me, 🙏we won't just be bumping up against it; we'll be living with it.

Some projections for Western countries are looking at daily infection rates hitting up to 1% of the population... With a peak like that, everything will likely wrap up by May...

Those who survive will have plenty to talk about. 😁

That potential 1% daily infection rate scares the hell out of me too. 🙄

God willing, Omicron turns out to be nothing more than a common cold.🎉

Gerald Chavez7 said:Omicron is spreading incredibly fast—everyone’s probably going to catch it at some point. Honestly, if you've been vaccinated or already had it, you should be fine (it'll likely be a milder version anyway), while those who haven't had either will just deal with it exactly like everything else we've seen so far.

Looking at the bigger picture over a longer timeline, the reality remains unchanged: absolutely everyone is going to be exposed, whether through infection or vaccination.
The real devil is in the details—specifically, the timing and the speed of this rollout.

It looks like we’ll hit herd immunity or transition to an endemic state by this summer.
What the actual cost of this massive, rapid wave of exposure will be? I don't think anyone truly knows yet (well, except for Bakić and Lauc, since they apparently have all the answers).

Gerald Chavez7 said:Jar is seeing record case numbers—higher than any previous wave—and growth is skyrocketing, yet Z. Europa isn't even keeping pace; it’s actually seen a slight stagnation over the last few weeks.

Regardless of what the sequencing shows, just looking at total testing volume and how these waves move, something would have been detected if it had surfaced in Europe first.

Maybe Omicron will learn some manners when it finally hits the West and realize it needs to follow the rules and stop being so damn infectious.

@samoistina
@teamskeptici

boldotter2 said:That article is super confusing, honestly. It looks like it was rushed together, and the Daily Telegraph link is stuck behind a paywall.

Anyway, I can't quite wrap my head around what the article is actually saying regarding how many people were at that club where 120 got infected, or if everyone there was vaccinated versus just having a negative test.

I guess if there were only 120 people total and EVERYONE was vaccinated and EVERYONE got sick, that would be pretty scary. Delta wasn't even close to being this contagious, it didn't bypass vaccines this much, and it mostly just caused mild symptoms in vaccinated folks.
But then again, maybe it's just bad reporting? I mean, I don't think any respiratory virus is quite infectious enough to hit 100% of everyone exposed.

So far, Omicron seems to show milder symptoms in people being hospitalized, but the wave is just starting and it's summer. They're also seeing a huge spike in reinfections among people who already had it.
https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world...tl-ldn-vpx.cnn

The only thing we know for sure about Omicron right now is that it basically ignores vaccines and pretty much bypasses natural immunity when it comes to catching it.
The big question, I suppose, is how much it bypasses immunity regarding actual sickness, and whether those milder symptoms come from the vaccine/previous infection or the virus itself.

The real test for Omicron will be during the winter in places with low vaccination rates, like Canada or Bulgaria. If we don't see massive hospitalizations there, then maybe we're in good shape.

👍👍