Posts by Matthew Young35

Jessica Gonzalez said:I suppose KFC is a massive global franchise, much stronger than what we see locally. It could be that McDonald's just built its reputation here earlier, or maybe Americans just generally have a bigger appetite for pork and veal. Pizza Hut or Domino's Pizza are huge brands globally, but they aren't really present here, and I wonder if their style of pizza would even work with our tastes. I heard Domino's might be coming, but with this economic crisis, I'm not so sure.

The way McDonald's operates here is by putting large drive-in locations right along major avenues, but nestled within neighborhoods so they aren't stuck out in the middle of nowhere. That way, they attract both drivers and people walking by in the evening. You get parking, restrooms, and compared to McDonald's in Europe, they are actually quite clean (which usually seems to be a struggle over there). They also have those nice little things like specialty coffees and ice cream. They were even among the first to partner up with Glova and similar services. They are pretty strong; I guess nothing they do is by accident.

I visited a Pizza Hut about twenty years ago in Budapest, and honestly, the pizza was just like what you get at our local pizzerias.
It was actually quite good. If I were talking about Washington, D.C., I’d say it falls somewhere in the middle of the pack.
Maybe things have changed since then? Who knows.

The government is working against its own citizens. What’s new there?

Jessica Gonzalez said:Is it Grandma who smells like moonshine, or the moonshine that smells like Grandma?

Vidis vidis.

Perhaps that’s the true genesis of this nasty virus.
Viruses actually seem to brew up in nursing homes before spreading everywhere else.

A fitting little tune...


What am I to do, mother dear? The results are out.
What will the whole town say? My body has fallen ill.
Cold hands, sweaty brow, but there's an antibody in my soul.
Sweaty hands, cold brow, but there's an antibody in my soul.

Microscopic little beast, you can't handle this tropical climate.
You trampled over the Sea just to infect me.

Now, hold on a second, lady—my organs are failing me.
Now, hold on a second, lady—my organs are failing me.
Because I was careless, and now I'm paying the price.
Because I was careless, and now I'm paying the price.

Microscopic little beast, you can't handle this tropical climate.
You trampled over the Sea just to infect me.

Black woman, did you know? Since you knew, thanks a lot.
That you were nurturing this cursed virus deep within.

Microscopic little beast, you can't handle this tropical climate.
You trampled over the Sea just to infect me.

Jessica Gonzalez said:Looks like something just burst and there's smoke everywhere—we might have a pope on our hands!

Took a quick look... someone definitely messed up, but they didn't even come close to tearing it down completely.

Jessica Gonzalez said:Watching from Spain through my binoculars, I'm just eagerly waiting for it all to come crashing down.

Why do you hate the Church and everything starting with an H so much?

Paul Sanders5 said:They’re seriously screwing us over with these measures. There isn't even a massive outbreak happening in the general population; every single "new case" is just someone who was already isolated because they ran into someone infected, and now the virus is trickling into nursing homes. But whatever, I guess the rest of us just keep playing along with this nonsense indefinitely. No relaxation in sight. 🙏

At this rate, everyone in those care facilities is going to catch it, and then what? We'll finally be done and allowed outside? Who actually knows.

And how exactly did the virus reach the nursing homes?

Anthony Jackson2 said:What’s the plan here—who’s actually footing the bill for these exhibitions at the Washington, D.C. Cathedral?

Are you joking, or are you actually asking that seriously?

urbanhawk17 said:The biggest headache is that the virus spreads through people who don't even show symptoms. If we could isolate those people, they wouldn't be able to infect everyone else.

So, testing just to hit numbers doesn't make sense, because if we actually tested effectively, we'd find more infected people who could then be isolated.

If this were a virus spread only by symptomatic people, maybe we could talk about unnecessary testing, though I suspect the virus would have already burned itself out if it only moved through people showing symptoms.

Look, I’m not suggesting that testing is unnecessary. Not at all.
I’m just saying, the sheer volume of testing doesn't actually mean anything.

Look at it this way: if you take a place like Istria, where there are virtually no active cases, versus a place like Washington, D.C., where you’re looking at 40 infections, the choice becomes obvious. It’s only logical to concentrate testing efforts where you actually expect to find people who are sick, rather than wasting resources in areas where you already know nothing is happening. Why hunt for shadows in the desert when you can go straight to the source?
I know I’m being a bit hyperbolic here, but surely you have enough imagination to fill in the blanks and grasp exactly what I meant.

Conducting a total, exhaustive testing phase is simply impossible. It’s an unrealistic goal. Instead, we need to implement targeted, strategic testing. Why aim for everything when you can focus on what actually matters?
First off, you have to look at those in the best position to spread the virus—people like retail workers, doctors, and frontline staff.

Elizabeth Mendoza said:Look, a century ago, the Spanish Flu infected 500 million people—that was about a quarter of the entire world population back then. It killed 50 million, but hey, the world is still spinning and we’re all still here. Nature can be a real bitch, but humans are the one thing nature didn't account for. We're this adaptable bunch of survivors that Mother Nature just can't seem to keep in check anymore. The human race has pushed through way worse crap than this. Who knows what the future holds? Honestly, we'll adapt to whatever comes our way.

We are basically a virus to nature, an anomaly it never saw coming.

That Spanish Flu virus actually ended up weakening itself; I've read quite a bit about how it eventually just fizzled out. The virus was too aggressive, killing off its hosts before it could spread effectively. So, it had to mutate, weaken down, and eventually just vanish into thin air.

I have to admit, I’m completely missing the point of what you just wrote.

Why don't you hop in a time machine (if you don't have one, I'll lend you mine) and head back to those days? Go ahead and tell someone on their deathbed not to worry because, hey, the world isn't going to end.

We lived through World War II, where tens or even hundreds of millions of people perished, and yet, the world didn't collapse.
Maybe you should travel back to Auschwitz and try explaining to them that it wasn't really such a big deal, that the world will keep spinning regardless.

restlesssurfer97 said:There really isn't a beginning or an end to this stuff.

Just tell me this: if you were stuck with two choices, one being that we don't test anyone at all, and the other being that we (theoretically) manage to test all 7.8 billion people on Earth within 48 hours...

Which way are you leaning?

By the way, I'm only counting your answer if you actually believe this virus is a serious threat. Of course, we could always argue for doing zero testing, which means we won't even know the virus exists and we'll just end up with a higher mortality rate than a typical flu season, but that's a whole different conversation.

Regarding every single point you raised, the truth is we'll have more answers if we test more, not less. I honestly don't get how that isn't obvious. There isn't some magic option that solves everything perfectly; there are just better options and worse ones.
Don't tell me you actually think minimal testing is somehow a better move than mass testing?

Well, I am absolutely in favor of testing all 7 billion people in 48 hours.
But let’s be realistic: that is physically impossible.

In my view, targeted testing is far more practical than testing just for the sake of testing—you know, when there's no real purpose other than padding the statistics to make the numbers look better.

restlesssurfer97 said:There isn't any official data out there regarding how many tests they’re actually running in China, so we have no real way of knowing just how much those Chinese officials are actually helping out during this pandemic, and honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they're just pulling the wool over everyone's eyes.

Oh, please. Did anyone honestly believe they weren't playing games?

The best part is watching Trump's big reveals about how the Chinese were lying to him.
LOL
I mean, really? As the leader of a nation that spends more on intelligence than Duke Energy does on its entire workforce, you're telling me he didn't have that intel?
How yes nou...

restlesssurfer97 said:Nah.

You’ve got to scale up, because honestly, the absolute worst thing you can do is fail to test people, which is exactly what Indonesia was doing until just four weeks ago, whereas the gold standard would be testing every single citizen at 9 in the morning every day. ☕
And within that spectrum, you’ve got everything from a total disaster to a flawless strategy, so really, it’s always better to just test more, and more, and even more...

As for those serology tests—you know, the antibody ones, feel free to correct me if I'm off base here—those are the tests we’re all actually waiting for, and they're already being rolled out, though we haven't seen any official stats yet.
It honestly makes me so happy to see how mass-scale the testing is in Germany and the US, which personally gives me the most hope, and I'm actually pleasantly surprised to see that the Russians aren't lagging behind at all. Anyone wondering why there's such a huge spike in Russia should realize that the Russians have also started running massive testing operations pretty recently, and even the Turks—if I remember right, maybe two or three weeks ago, they didn't have a single infected person.

You have to take several unknowns as a given. Honestly, that’s why this virus is such a nightmare; nobody actually knows anything reliable about it yet.

First off, how much will it mutate? It hasn't even been six months since it first appeared.

Second, is it seasonal? That matters immensely because, unlike the flu, we might not have enough time to prepare for a seasonal wave or get a vaccine ready.

Third, there are reports of people getting reinfected. While these accounts might be unreliable, considering how little we know about this virus, it would be foolish to assume that catching it once grants permanent immunity.

Fourth, the time and resources required for testing are finite, even if the tests themselves are free.

Fifth, how do you actually force everyone to get tested? How do you reach the people showing absolutely no symptoms?

There is more to consider, but that should be enough to start with.

restlesssurfer97 said:The Americans are going to be testing everyone throughout the summer, then they’ll really kick things into high gear by autumn, and honestly, they’re already looking at a full recovery by 2021. Here, though, we won't see anything resembling a recovery until somewhere around 2027. 🤦

The Germans tested about 1.7 million people, which is only like 2% of their total population. 🙏🙏

And those tests could be about as useful as a screen door on a submarine.
You know why, of course.

It’s because those people being tested can become infectious again the very next day.

The only testing that would actually offer any real benefit for containment would be real-time testing coupled with real-time oversight from the relevant authorities.

Of course, that is completely unacceptable, even if it were technically feasible. I don't feel like explaining why. You could try making it anonymous, but who would convince the anti-vaxxers?

William Kim said:Someone on the forum was joking around about how downtown real estate is going to tank now.
Most of them feel the exact same way. Honestly, once the government steps in to fix those places up, the value is just going to skyrocket. That privileged crowd in America thinks they can get away with anything.

I’m not sure where the "privileged elite" live in a place like Boise, but in Washington, D.C., they mostly congregate around The White House, Central Park, or tucked away in those illegal "luxury villas" in the upscale suburbs. Even in those neighborhoods, you'll find plenty of regular people who aren't part of that entitled class.
The downtown area and the surrounding metro districts are mostly inhabited by perfectly normal people.

Andrew
🤦

By the way, this maniac was back at Mass again today.

The police probably didn't have a clue yet, either.

Elizabeth Mendoza said:That's true, but if you look at the data, numbers spiked hard right after the earthquake and now the curve is finally dipping. We hit our peak daily infection count just a couple of days after the quake.

Now that the weather has warmed up and everyone is moving around again, the daily numbers have been steadily dropping, unless you count these recent clusters in nursing homes.

That’s why everyone says the next two or three weeks are the real test. That’s when we’ll see which way the wind is actually blowing.

You’re forgetting about the lag.
For most people, symptoms don't even show up until a week or two later, sometimes even longer.

I still maintain that one of the primary reasons things have stabilized so quickly in the US is because we were hit by a combination of shock from the earthquake and a sudden cold snap with a few snowflakes right after.
A few days following the quake, there wasn't a soul on the streets.
People were either paralyzed by fear, shivering from the cold, watching the snow fall, or dodging falling roof tiles.
Since many people were scheduled to start new jobs around that time, quite a few employers who hadn't resumed operations immediately after the earthquake decided to push back start dates (I was one of them, for instance).

We’ll see how the situation evolves in about three or four weeks. If you stop paying attention for even a moment, you'll notice that much of the city is slowly returning to its usual rhythm now that the initial shock—first from the virus and then from the earthquake—has finally passed.

Amy Nelson4 said:It would be nice if we could just decide whether we're discussing the service itself or the people attending, but hey, fine.

So, you're asking why the service wasn't interrupted. Well, it wasn't because, according to church law, you can't just stop it—and besides, the police aren't supposed to intervene inside religious properties (just look at what happened during those veteran protests over at Times Square).
Since a priest is conducting the service, he's naturally part of the conversation. Plus, technically, the service wasn't held outdoors.
Services have been happening every single day throughout this entire pandemic, so there's really no reason for them to be stopped.

And honestly, the people who showed up weren't even on parish property—they were on someone else's private land. A reporter from Yahoo mentioned they actually checked IDs for a few people.

In other words, are you trying to suggest that church law supersedes the law of the land? That priests enjoy immunity from state law?
We are well aware of that.

loneseal said:Who’s getting beaten up? 🤔 Someone actually hurt?

Now we've got cannibals too. 🤣 Why don't you just say—vampiric Nazis attacked a brave little girl. 😉

I wonder how far the descendants of communists living in seized apartments are willing to go. 😉

You missed the mark there. That apartment was never seized; it was bought at full market value.

Try a different angle.

Paul Martinez73 said:Let's try this again from the top.

I never once defended the gathering; I actually said myself that it was wrong. Just like it's wrong for people to congregate at spas, parks, or wherever else you want to name. But there is always a proper way to handle these things.

You're back at it with the insults, calling it "organizing mobs"—insulting an entire community while refusing to let anyone insult you.

I have an issue with both the organized mass and the unauthorized filming. For God's sake, some of us aren't just blindly "against" one thing and automatically "for" the other.

Go ahead, keep going.

Honestly, I couldn't care less about your motivations.
What I see is you spitting on a journalist who went there to film an illegal assembly—something the Police should have known about, much like anyone who keeps even a passing eye on the news.
If that reporter hadn't been there, this whole "incident" wouldn't even be worth mentioning, which is exactly why her presence was necessary.
The Church and its clergy act as if they are above the law. We ought to offer at least some symbolic resistance, no matter how futile it might seem.