OT: Corona virus

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: Moltrey

Popping back in here guys. I just heard or read a couple days ago another reference to the Covid 19 virus originating in a Chinese lab rather than the wet market in Wuhan.
Any of you shed light or other stories on this?

Our lack of understanding about this virus and its apparent slipperiness are making things scary. We don't know very much about it still. Lets hope that changes asap.

The reigning theory is that a lab worker had an oopsie while handling the virus and did not do a good job of cleaning up before going to the wet market across the street or next block over. Since the lab was working on viruses carried by bats and the wet market sold bats and other wild critters, it is unclear if the virus was already in the wet market product or if the worker spread it by handling all the carcasses on display.

Apparently that wet market did not sell bats, or sell pangolins.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Alfred

Now for some light hearted humour.

Just came across a lexicon which redefines the meaning of certain words in the current COVID-19 environment.

Experts - People who may or may not be wrong

Globalisation - A word to describe the fact that we are all now residents of Wuhan

Grocery Shopping - A great day out

Hand Sanitiser - Lotion that is said to protect you from flu, cancer and vampires

Stampede - Three people running together at a local park

Travel Plans - Deciding whether your next trip will be to the kitchen, the lounge room, the laundry or the bathroom


Alfred

[:D]

[MakeeLearn]

Bank Of China Says Digital Yuan Will Not Cause Inflation
15 hours ago

https://cointelegraph.com/news/bank-of- ... -inflation


"A bank representative confirmed on the China Central Television on April 19 that the new digital currency (also referred to as DC/EP, for “digital currency/electronic payment”) pilot test has been carried out in the cities of Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiongan new area, Chengdu, and the future site of the winter Olympics.

However the researcher stressed that these current tests do not imply that the digital Yuan has been officially issued for public use."

"the payment functions of online banking and payment platforms were to go down due to poor network signals, DC/EP’s dual offline technology will ensure that the digital Yuan will work as effectively as the paper Yuan. The bank explained:

“In the absence of a network, as long as two mobile phones equipped with a DC / EP digital wallet are touched, the transfer or payment function can be realized.”

[Cap Mandrake]

A total ban of Chinese imports would be a global economy-wrecker. It needs to be more gradual.

For example Foxcom, the contractual assembler of I-phones might begin phasing out Chinese plants. They are, after all, a Taiwanese company and no real friend of the Chicoms. Western governments should phase out purchases of Chinese PPE products. Cadillac wants to build cars in China for export BACK to the US? Don't buy them. NBA wants to operate in China? Don't watch the NBA. Hollywood wants to run their scripts by Beijing first? Don't watch the shit. Mao-mart wants to sell cheap Chinese crap that disintegrates in a stiff breeze...don't go there (this is already an easy choice)

US universities sucking on the Chinese tit with a quid pro quo of automatic allocation of 80% of the PhD STEM slots to Chinese students....cease all US government funding.

[Cap Mandrake]

The Chicoms KNEW how bad SARS-2 was...so they corner the market on world PPE production and then they turn loose thousands of ambulatory virus reproduction machines on the rest of the world and THEN they sell the same f****** crap back at 16x the original price.

That is PURE evil. There absolutely needs to be global retribution lasting for a couple of generations.

[Cap Mandrake]

Trump should move the US embassy to China to Taipei. [:)]

[Cap Mandrake]

Every time you buy something from the PRC you are improving the technology on their next fighter or missile.

One in 10,000 have an IQ of 160 or greater. So there are about 150,000 PRC PhD graduates with an IQ over 160 and they aren't studying Gender Studies either. There is going to be a war with the PRC at some point (unless the Sweet Baby Jesus and Mohammed and the Budha get together and will a civil war on them) and we are training their weapons designers.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

A total ban of Chinese imports would be a global economy-wrecker. It needs to be more gradual.

For example Foxcom, the contractual assembler of I-phones might begin phasing out Chinese plants. They are, after all, a Taiwanese company and no real friend of the Chicoms. Western governments should phase out purchases of Chinese PPE products. Cadillac wants to build cars in China for export BACK to the US? Don't buy them. NBA wants to operate in China? Don't watch the NBA. Hollywood wants to run their scripts by Beijing first? Don't watch the shit. Mao-mart wants to sell cheap Chinese crap that disintegrates in a stiff breeze...don't go there (this is already an easy choice)

US universities sucking on the Chinese tit with a quid pro quo of automatic allocation of 80% of the PhD STEM slots to Chinese students....cease all US government funding.

I was kind of thinking along the lines of enabling countries hit by the virus (i.e., all of them) that also happened to be victims of the Chicom 'debt diplomacy'...erm..."Belt and Road Initiative" construction projects to call force majeure on any outstanding loans. Man, it'd be worth the price of admission to see what the bond trading would be like on those quasi state-owned companies. [:D]

I'm no lawyer, but doesn't a lot of force majeure contract language contain specific provisions for epidemics?

ETA: Of course the downside, particularly for those bordering China, is that they can probably expect a 'visit' from the PLA if they did this.

[MakeeLearn]

YOU GOT COOTIES... NO, YOU GOT COOTIES



An Arabic TV program in China suggests coronavirus originated in US
The contention contradicts widespread international and scientific consensus that the virus started in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

APRIL 20, 2020

https://www.jpost.com/international/chi ... -us-625181


"there were multiple indications that the virus started in the US. These included, according to MEMRI, "the presence of multiple coronavirus strains in the United States; the coincidence between the initial coronavirus outbreak and the 2019 Military World Games in Wuhan in which the US participated; the possibility that the US may have had many coronavirus deaths that have been documented as influenza deaths; and the CDC's shutdown of former US biological weapons research lab Fort Detrick.""


"So, it is expected that the ‘patient zero’ in China had come from outside China," she continued. "The Asahi Corporation of Japan published a report in the past days indicating the possibility of new cases of coronavirus in the United States among deaths caused by influenza infection and the US government recently recognized this possibility. This news has caused a widespread debate on social media about the possibility of the virus being transmitted to China from abroad during the period of the Military Olympic Games in Wuhan, which was attended by 109 countries, including the United States.""

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

A total ban of Chinese imports would be a global economy-wrecker. It needs to be more gradual.

For example Foxcom, the contractual assembler of I-phones might begin phasing out Chinese plants. They are, after all, a Taiwanese company and no real friend of the Chicoms. Western governments should phase out purchases of Chinese PPE products. Cadillac wants to build cars in China for export BACK to the US? Don't buy them. NBA wants to operate in China? Don't watch the NBA. Hollywood wants to run their scripts by Beijing first? Don't watch the shit. Mao-mart wants to sell cheap Chinese crap that disintegrates in a stiff breeze...don't go there (this is already an easy choice)

US universities sucking on the Chinese tit with a quid pro quo of automatic allocation of 80% of the PhD STEM slots to Chinese students....cease all US government funding.

I was kind of thinking along the lines of enabling countries hit by the virus (i.e., all of them) that also happened to be victims of the Chicom 'debt diplomacy'...erm..."Belt and Road Initiative" construction projects to call force majeure on any outstanding loans. Man, it'd be worth the price of admission to see what the bond trading would be like on those quasi state-owned companies. [:D]

I'm no lawyer, but doesn't a lot of force majeure contract language contain specific provisions for epidemics?

ETA: Of course the downside, particularly for those bordering China, is that they can probably expect a 'visit' from the PLA if they did this.

But what countries that do border China are in that predicament with loans?

[Cap Mandrake]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

A total ban of Chinese imports would be a global economy-wrecker. It needs to be more gradual.

For example Foxcom, the contractual assembler of I-phones might begin phasing out Chinese plants. They are, after all, a Taiwanese company and no real friend of the Chicoms. Western governments should phase out purchases of Chinese PPE products. Cadillac wants to build cars in China for export BACK to the US? Don't buy them. NBA wants to operate in China? Don't watch the NBA. Hollywood wants to run their scripts by Beijing first? Don't watch the shit. Mao-mart wants to sell cheap Chinese crap that disintegrates in a stiff breeze...don't go there (this is already an easy choice)

US universities sucking on the Chinese tit with a quid pro quo of automatic allocation of 80% of the PhD STEM slots to Chinese students....cease all US government funding.

I was kind of thinking along the lines of enabling countries hit by the virus (i.e., all of them) that also happened to be victims of the Chicom 'debt diplomacy'...erm..."Belt and Road Initiative" construction projects to call force majeure on any outstanding loans. Man, it'd be worth the price of admission to see what the bond trading would be like on those quasi state-owned companies. [:D]

I'm no lawyer, but doesn't a lot of force majeure contract language contain specific provisions for epidemics?

ETA: Of course the downside, particularly for those bordering China, is that they can probably expect a 'visit' from the PLA if they did this.

Normally, default is a bad thing for the lender...but what if default is the INTENDED outcome?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/25/worl ... -port.html

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

A total ban of Chinese imports would be a global economy-wrecker. It needs to be more gradual.

For example Foxcom, the contractual assembler of I-phones might begin phasing out Chinese plants. They are, after all, a Taiwanese company and no real friend of the Chicoms. Western governments should phase out purchases of Chinese PPE products. Cadillac wants to build cars in China for export BACK to the US? Don't buy them. NBA wants to operate in China? Don't watch the NBA. Hollywood wants to run their scripts by Beijing first? Don't watch the shit. Mao-mart wants to sell cheap Chinese crap that disintegrates in a stiff breeze...don't go there (this is already an easy choice)

US universities sucking on the Chinese tit with a quid pro quo of automatic allocation of 80% of the PhD STEM slots to Chinese students....cease all US government funding.

I was kind of thinking along the lines of enabling countries hit by the virus (i.e., all of them) that also happened to be victims of the Chicom 'debt diplomacy'...erm..."Belt and Road Initiative" construction projects to call force majeure on any outstanding loans. Man, it'd be worth the price of admission to see what the bond trading would be like on those quasi state-owned companies. [:D]

I'm no lawyer, but doesn't a lot of force majeure contract language contain specific provisions for epidemics?

ETA: Of course the downside, particularly for those bordering China, is that they can probably expect a 'visit' from the PLA if they did this.

But what countries that do border China are in that predicament with loans?

Pakistan for sure. Probably some of the other 'stans'. Cambodia and Laos are already in the Chinese 'pocket' and are unlikely to invoke Chinese ire by such a move though. Same with Myanmar.

Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa have odious debt carriage from the B-A-R-I construction projects. And, IIRC, the Italians and the Greeks were playing footsie with B-A-R-I port construction efforts as well, but I don't know how those have gone.

Although it's not strictly B-A-R-I debt, the Venezuelans have been transshipping the Chinese oil for previous cash loan considerations for a few years. I don't know the precise terms on that, but wiping that debt out would cause some pain in Xi-land.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

A total ban of Chinese imports would be a global economy-wrecker. It needs to be more gradual.

For example Foxcom, the contractual assembler of I-phones might begin phasing out Chinese plants. They are, after all, a Taiwanese company and no real friend of the Chicoms. Western governments should phase out purchases of Chinese PPE products. Cadillac wants to build cars in China for export BACK to the US? Don't buy them. NBA wants to operate in China? Don't watch the NBA. Hollywood wants to run their scripts by Beijing first? Don't watch the shit. Mao-mart wants to sell cheap Chinese crap that disintegrates in a stiff breeze...don't go there (this is already an easy choice)

US universities sucking on the Chinese tit with a quid pro quo of automatic allocation of 80% of the PhD STEM slots to Chinese students....cease all US government funding.

I was kind of thinking along the lines of enabling countries hit by the virus (i.e., all of them) that also happened to be victims of the Chicom 'debt diplomacy'...erm..."Belt and Road Initiative" construction projects to call force majeure on any outstanding loans. Man, it'd be worth the price of admission to see what the bond trading would be like on those quasi state-owned companies. [:D]

I'm no lawyer, but doesn't a lot of force majeure contract language contain specific provisions for epidemics?

ETA: Of course the downside, particularly for those bordering China, is that they can probably expect a 'visit' from the PLA if they did this.

Normally, default is a bad thing for the lender...but what if default is the INTENDED outcome?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/25/worl ... -port.html

Yes, I remember that. What a dumbass deal for the Sri Lankans.[8|]

[Cap Mandrake]

Ethiopia is also teetering on default over a big Chinese funded road project that was supposed to bring tourists to Addis Ababba Disneyland.


Guess which UN agency lately in the news is headed by an Ethiopian whose nomination was advanced by the Chicoms?

Anyone? Anyone?

Angola is in for $20B. Angola? Really? There isn't a chance in Hell they can pay that back.

https://qz.com/africa/1634659/ethiopia- ... -railways/

[Canoerebel]

From a raw numbers standpoint, things are improving almost across the board.

Belgium and Netherlands, two hotspots a week ago, have seen marked declines.

UK daily mortality down and consistently well below Univ. of Washington projections (but within the margin of error). Likely there will be a downward revision by U. Wash. within a day or two.

Ditto the USA.

Ditto many states in the US.

The Univ. of Wash. charts for each state have an added feature now, showing when countermeasures can/should begin easing. These fluctuate wildly. Some states are as early as mid-May, others deep into June. (If mortality continues to come in well under projections it seems likely that the countermeasure-easing projections will also be revised.)

[MakeeLearn]

A spectre is haunting the West – the spectre of authoritarian capitalism
16 April 2020


https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureco ... apitalism/


"Amidst the turmoil in global financial markets in recent weeks, something unusual has happened.

Investors, seeking shelter from the coronavirus-linked sell-off, have piled into Chinese government bonds on an unprecedented scale. These purchases have increased the total foreign ownership of Beijing’s bonds to record highs, even as much of the country is still emerging from lockdown after the viral outbreak. In an ironic twist, the country where the pandemic originated has become an unlikely safe haven for investors – a shift that one prominent trader has described as “the single largest change in capital markets in anybody’s lifetime.”"


"This is the first great crisis of the post-American world."
Carl Bildt, former Swedish Prime Minister


"In 1848 Karl Marx wrote that ‘A spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of communism.’ Today another spectre is haunting the West: its name is authoritarian capitalism."

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

@ obvert/Warspite1/Encircled (or other Brits)

Have you lot found a website that provides granular detail across the UK? I'm talking county by county / country by country (including Wales too of course) for Scotland, England, Wales and N. Ireland? I don't know how to get that stuff from the Worldometers or Covid Tracking Project sites-my 'go to' sites for daily national and state information.

warspite1

I've not been able to find anything that granular - but then we can't even give a total figure of recovered so I'm not surprised....

This Guardian page has been running since the beginning here. When I first checked, my council had one case. Now, Waltham Forest lists 636. This is mostly by county, but includes all London councils.

I'm sure the PHE website has some similar stuff, which is where The Guardian lists this as coming from.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... in-my-area

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: obvert

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

@ obvert/Warspite1/Encircled (or other Brits)

Have you lot found a website that provides granular detail across the UK? I'm talking county by county / country by country (including Wales too of course) for Scotland, England, Wales and N. Ireland? I don't know how to get that stuff from the Worldometers or Covid Tracking Project sites-my 'go to' sites for daily national and state information.

warspite1

I've not been able to find anything that granular - but then we can't even give a total figure of recovered so I'm not surprised....

This Guardian page has been running since the beginning here. When I first checked, my council had one case. Now, Waltham Forest lists 636. This is mostly by county, but includes all London councils.

I'm sure the PHE website has some similar stuff, which is where The Guardian lists this as coming from.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... in-my-area

warspite1

The BBC does something similar - but these are simple 'no of cases in my area' and nothing else, so I didn't think that worth mentioning. Sorry CB if that is what you wanted.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: obvert

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

@ obvert/Warspite1/Encircled (or other Brits)

Have you lot found a website that provides granular detail across the UK? I'm talking county by county / country by country (including Wales too of course) for Scotland, England, Wales and N. Ireland? I don't know how to get that stuff from the Worldometers or Covid Tracking Project sites-my 'go to' sites for daily national and state information.

warspite1

I've not been able to find anything that granular - but then we can't even give a total figure of recovered so I'm not surprised....

This Guardian page has been running since the beginning here. When I first checked, my council had one case. Now, Waltham Forest lists 636. This is mostly by county, but includes all London councils.

I'm sure the PHE website has some similar stuff, which is where The Guardian lists this as coming from.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... in-my-area

Thanks obvert. From that link, I could get more granular information on Wales, for example.

My hypothesis is that Welsh cases/deaths will look differently than major urban metropolitan areas (e.g., Londinium, Edinburgh, etc.) due to the very different levels of urbanization/population density and so forth.

Looking at the Welsh data, it looks like Wales' COVID-19 mortality peaked over a week ago. Good news that may be useful for determining staggered 're-opening' patterns for your country.

[HansBolter]

Current stats for Florida found at myflorida.com.

One nice feature is a breakdown by zip code. There are 13 confirmed cases in my zip code. This gives me a little peace of mind that my local grocery stores are not likely hotbeds of contagion.








Sorry, I had no idea the image was gonna be that huge.....