Deadlord wrote in Random Thoughts or OT Chit-Chat Thread:I've been trying to figure out the gubmint's dumbass response to this, and I might have hit on it this morning.
This was an inevitability. I find it extremely hard to believe they could have been so lax as to not realize that. We pump anywhere between six and twelve BILLION dollars into the CDC annually. Even given the government's penchant for buying $1,000 toilet seats, that is an absolutely ridiculous amount of money to pour into an organization and not expect a beginning-to-end plan for a pandemic. I'm only half exaggerating when I say every swinging dick there should be either jailed for life or tried in a death penalty state. This was not the president's fault, this is the fault of the CDC and possibly prior administrations for their lack of oversight. It depends on what the government has been told by the CDC as far as what they were doing with all that time and money. But, like the mindless herd animals they are, everyone points the finger at those in charge.

Deadlord wrote in Random Thoughts or OT Chit-Chat Thread: I read the CDC budgets and plans annually, mostly to justify my conviction for the last 30 years that this was coming. They decided, for example, that budgeting for things like Diamond Blackfan Anemia was a priority over a pandemic plan. Why? Nepotism. Our government organizations have become so boated and convoluted that anything and everything can be buried in them and paid for by the populace. But let's face it, the #1 priority should always have been diseases that had pandemic capability. The coronavirus family has been a round a long time, and if, for example, MERS had decided to take a global holiday, we'd have probably lost about 20% of the population. We've been given warning after warning, and because there was no profit in planning for something that in their minds didn't have a guaranteed return, the warnings were ignored.
From the get-go I haven't been able to wrap my head around why there has been no mention to the public of how to deal with the pandemic version of the Axis of Evil: mail, gas pumps and cash. Cash has always been a cesspool, carrying not only several thousands of types of germs/virii/bacteria but feces, cocaine, and all kinds of happy stuff. Gas pumps need no explanation, nor should mail. Just consider how many individuals handle a single piece of mail or a package from making the envelope/package materials, to putting in items, to transporting. Keeping in mind that flu virii can live for weeks on paper items, you get the point. But not a word has been said to the populace about dealing with any of these.
So, as far as my epiphany, I admit it is just a possibility, but it would explain the ludicrous way this has all been handled. The powers that be knew full well that this would go worldwide early on, and they knew it wasn't ever going to go away. If "social distancing" and quarantining were enough, then that could have been applied to influenza many times in the past. So, since they accept that COVID is here to stay, they used measures designed to SLOW the progression, giving it time to work its way through the entire world without nuking healthcare systems. They know full well that no matter how tightly you quarantine, once it spreads to this level it is here to stay. Once a vaccine is created, it will become part of the annual "get your flu shot" routine. Companies will determine the likely mutations and produce the vaccines.
But the fun doesn't end there. Rotavirus still kills 200K plus people annually (mostly children), and our old friend rhinovirus has been around forever causing "common colds" and killing off people. Every virus family with members that are transmissible via contact or air is a candidate for causing the next pandemic. Now that the world is a place where a single person can stop in every continent in a matter of days, this sort of thing NEEDS to be acknowledged. If not, this round will look like a holiday when a playful puppy like MERS takes a world tour.

Sea-to-sky-games wrote in Random Thoughts or OT Chit-Chat Thread:I suspect the source of this emotional frustration is the policy change ahead of us. In the wake of this ordeal, there will likely be a reduced emphasis on mass transportation, more not less secure borders, private not bureaucratic health care delivery, nationalism over globalism, and backburning of other big ideas like climate change policy and free stuff for everyone.

Skullhammer wrote in Random Thoughts or OT Chit-Chat Thread:mega-blocks are constructed to group city populations into a smaller carbon footprint

ExTSR wrote in Random Thoughts or OT Chit-Chat Thread:Well, my wife is dumping me after 20+ years, I've been ostracized from conventions, and publishers don't dare run my stuff or WotC will pull their 5e licenses.

I expect that when I go, you'll hear about it weeks later.