Posts by William Kim

Damir Mišković managed to pull off a complete overhaul of the US Soccer Referee Commission during Tuesday's meeting at the Hilton in downtown Chicago.

This man is basically the architect of American soccer. A total powerhouse and a die-hard fan of the old school style.
Thanks, Miskо!

Milic in Berlin 🙏
Man, what a hell of a city. In my book, it’s easily the best metropolis in all of Europe. Berlin and Barcelona are really the only two cities where I’ve made it a point to go back more than five times—and honestly, I can see myself heading back at least another dozen times before I kick the bucket.
Btw, Germany is the most boring country I've ever dealt with, but Berlin? Berlin isn't Germany.

San Diego hit the 3,000 dollar mark🤣🤣

I'm seeing all these headlines claiming people are panic-buying flour and cooking oil, and now there's talk about limiting sales. It just brings back those memories of the COVID lockdowns and the absolute madness over toilet paper. Honestly, what am I doing wrong? Why wouldn't these three essentials be in my top 50 grocery items? Seriously, what are you even doing with that much oil? A single liter can easily last me three months.
There’s a Chase Bank on the ground floor of my building. God, it’s packed all day long. I don't think I've stepped foot in a physical bank more than five times in my entire life. I always find myself wondering, what on earth are people actually doing in there?

James Anderson5 said:That’s why I was being cautious, though I wouldn't say anyone here actually knows what life is really like for the average Russian. If anyone does have firsthand experience, it would be interesting to hear it. At least it's clear the average American is doing better and better. And if someone actually squeezed them with sanctions, or if a large part of the world stopped buying their bonds, they'd go under just like that...

We shouldn't take our media, or their praise and opinions regarding anything or anyone, too seriously. I either don't follow these reports coming out of Ukraine, or I simply don't believe any of them. Just look at all the manipulation involving that tank crushing the car, or that kid crossing the border by himself; I'm sure the Russians aren't much more unbiased than that...

I'm more interested in how all of this will reflect on us and Europe, and the reflection is looking catastrophic...

He showed himself by not running away, which isn't exactly an achievement—it would be the absolute bottom of the barrel if a national leader fled during a war. As for political moves, if he accepts some kind of neutrality status, then he's a complete amateur. He should have realized a long time ago where this was heading and tried to negotiate some sort of compromise to avoid the war and all these casualties. Putin mentioned a red line several times; what exactly did he think was going to happen?...

Here's a counter-opinion for you... 😁

About ten years ago, I was working on warehouse automation in Moscow. Spent three months there. Everything outside the main ring is just pure misery. The city center is great, sure, but you can't afford to live there unless you're loaded.
The real difference between America and Russia is that an American is poor by choice, whereas a Russian isn't.

Larry Fox5 said:Adam Allen85 and William Kim…. at first I thought Adam Allen85/William Kim had just posted twice in a row and was wondering what the hell... why didn't he just shove them all into one post. Turns out they aren't even the same user.

And "one" and "the other" both have those empty visual avatars. What, are you guys twins or something?

Smash your head against the keyboard and you'll probably get these three letters instead.

James Anderson5 said:Isn't it possible for someone to be frustrated with everyone and anyone?

Before the whole Crimea situation went down, I knew a few people working as managers over in Russia, and honestly, their impressions of life there were actually quite great...

And I don't know a single soul who claims life in the USA is top-tier unless you're absolutely loaded. Europe is a different story, though...

So you're living in the second ring making 5,000 euros a month and spending 20 bucks on hookers. It’s wild how much they enjoyed themselves. Did any of them ever actually step outside that second ring?

They actually took to the streets to support the Russians 🙏
Not a single one of their news outlets is even covering it 🙏

What a crowd 🙏

Carl Hernandez3 said:NATO wasn't even the issue here
If the EU hadn't been so heavily restricted by the USA and the United Kingdom, we might have struck an economic deal with the Russian Federation and Ukraine—offering their citizens something akin to free movement, similar to how things work with Norway or Switzerland.
Instead of lecturing them on what their brand of democracy should look like, we should have been slowly integrating them into our sphere.
I can't help but wonder—if back in 2004, the EU had offered Russia some kind of major economic partnership or a shared market union
how would Putin have reacted?

🤣

Kyle Campbell4 said:Anyone who believes this is merely a conflict between Russia and Ukraine is being incredibly naive. Gentlemen, a global struggle has already commenced; it is simply that the warring factions have yet to officially declare it. On one hand, Putin has executed an unprecedented maneuver. I suspect his own associates were left utterly stunned when the war orders were handed down. On the other hand, The West cannot deploy its military forces directly, so instead, they flood the region with massive quantities of weaponry and volunteers, opting to dismantle Russia through alternative methods. The tension has been simmering for ages, building until Putin finally ignited this clash of civilizations—the East versus the West. We are witnessing a confrontation between dictatorship and the suppression of liberty on one side, and the free, democratic world, finally unified against tyranny, on the other. In this war, either Putko will emerge as a new Tsar, or he will be dragged through the streets of Moscow. The West will either defend the very foundations of democracy and freedom, or it will descend into ruin, leaving European nations to be ruled by petty little midgets.

I don't see a single scenario where he comes out of this war as a winner.

restlesssurfer97 said:https://zadarski.slobodnadalmacija.h...ptome-1017445?

Just look at how incredibly well we handled this whole virus situation 🙏🙏 🙏
Kae, so many European states have actually been looking at the American model as the gold standard for how to fight this thing 🙏🙏 🙏

The absolute worst medical students somehow ended up becoming our epidemiologists.☕

Roche also released those serology tests. BC has gone public stating they'll be ready by mid-May and production will hit 30 million a month.

But then our dear leadership decides that serology testing can only be done in microbiology labs, so once again, mass testing is off the table.

By the way, what serology tests do we even have available right now? I haven't seen any info on that anywhere.

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.

https://www.abbott.com/corpnewsroom/...body-test.html

I have no idea how fast they'll roll out these reagents to the rest of the world, but once this hits our shores, you'll be able to get tested at almost any local clinic.
My guess is that BC and Roche will release their versions pretty quickly too, making testing available at basically every community health center.
Of course, our Minister will find some excuse to claim why we shouldn't be doing it.

Paul Sanders5 said:Honestly, I’m just hoping the folks in NYC show their massive hearts and find a spot for these amazing people. And once they're settled? We should definitely help them fix up their place—they've more than earned it.

There are plenty of faces out there today, but honestly, you can barely find a decent soul. 😢

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.

Matthew Young35 said:The Right to life is a fundamental human right, and there is absolutely no justification for anyone demanding that someone else sacrifice their life.

It’s just like the right to work or the freedom of movement.

Matthew Young35 said:Try explaining that to the people who actually need to pass away.

Just walk up and tell them, "Hey, could you please die so I don't miss out on everything life has to offer?"

I'm sure your grandmother would just slap you upside the head and say, "Oh, you sweet child, fine, I'll go ahead and die so you don't have to suffer for my sake."

Or maybe they should just show up when you're in your mid-30s to explain, "Please, just stay home. It doesn't matter if you're unemployed. Forget about the mortgage. Kids can survive on bread and water, and I'm sure our dear government will take care of you. Just ignore the massive economic depression waiting for us once this clears up. At least I got two more years of watching Turkish soap operas out of it."

Elizabeth Mendoza said:

Quote: Initial Studies of other coronaviruses - The Common varieties that cause colds in the US

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley just dropped a major study on the standard coronaviruses—specifically HCoV-NL63, HCoV-OC43, and HCoV-229E. After digging through data collected over multiple years, they spotted a massive spike in similar coronavirus infections during February, whereas things basically flatline during the summer. It turns out these viruses definitely follow a seasonal rhythm, much like other studies have pointed out.

That said, the lead researchers aren't getting ahead of themselves. They issued a serious warning. “We might see steady but much lower rates of coronavirus transmission throughout the summer, though that could flip entirely once winter hits if there is still a huge number of people who haven't built up immunity yet,” he noted.

“Since we're dealing with a brand new virus, we can't be certain if this seasonal trend will actually stick during the summer, especially since so many people are still vulnerable. That's why it is absolutely vital that everyone follows the current health guidelines right now.”

From everything I've read in scientific papers so far, the main takeaway is pretty simple: because this specific mutation is totally new, nobody knows exactly how it'll behave under different conditions. But, it belongs to the same "family" of viruses that act exactly like the ones described in the text.

Looking at the infection stats globally, it doesn't look like the Southern Hemisphere is some kind of safe haven from the virus.

And if that turns out to be true, what then? Are we really looking at everyone being forced back into lockdown for another six to eight months by the tenth month of the year?

Paul Sanders5 said:Okay, but honestly? Screw a life like that. A month or two? Fine. But experts are saying it’ll take two years to roll out vaccines and treatments, so they think staying in these kinds of quarantines is the best move. Are they out of their minds? 🤣

It’s all just because certain people can't stop stuffing their faces every single second. And now they're starting the whole PR spin to act like none of this is their fault.

Seriously, what industry is actually going to survive two years of this? What can even survive six months? People would literally be starving. Someone needs to sit the public down and explain that we have to live like this for two years just to save less than 1% of the population. It sounds ugly, but that's the reality.

wiredrider9 said:https://www.nytimes.com/section/us-news/politics

Honestly, nothing warms my heart quite like those ultra-tolerant liberals.

Mexicans who think they're actually Italian🤣

I have to give them credit for the organization here

I’m officially out of isolation, so I shouldn't be restricted anymore, but whenever I try to generate my digital pass through the system, it keeps flagging me as still being in quarantine. It's a total loop.
Honestly, nobody seems to know which department is actually responsible for updating these records.🙏

Anthony Jackson2 said:So the neighbor didn't just stumble in—the kid could have died right there.🤦

It's basically what Amanda Evans2 was saying the other day—more people will end up dying from a broken healthcare system during an epidemic than from the actual virus itself.

If she had passed away, it would have been from COVID.