sauromatian wrote in Random Thoughts or OT Chit-Chat Thread:Well, the live-music industry won't work today, so that leaves the inevitable sightseeing vacation to China. Boo-yah!

Playing devils' advocate, why can't a band go an play live in a field if they want to?
Yes they can't sell tickets and amass a crowd, but if rugby and football can still be played, sure as hell you can still play a guitar and warble.
I agree the economics have changed, and if they won't do it because there's no money in it for them, then its not about their music but about how to get money out of people. And if that's their motivation then there are plenty of online avenues for monetising bands too. They just need to know what it is they want and then take action on their decisions.

sauromatian wrote in Random Thoughts or OT Chit-Chat Thread:
That's what I say! War between the superpowers is the only feasible answer in a market economy of a market choked by lockdowns.

A hot war is also the only logical extension to a trade war if you are not willing to capitulate. On a macro economic level it depletes resources and increases demand for resources, which pushes up prices. It creates both fear and control of society which is an ideal solution for governing people. Human beings surrender their freedoms out of fear, in exchange for food and security. It depletes societies of useless eaters, lowers peoples expectations of what is an acceptable standard of food security, and is the greatest means of making money known to the world. It is reassuring to all that the masses are as ignorant and predictable as ever.

Well, lets not forget that most of us profit directly from war, and without it would be substantially poorer as a result. We have pension funds that invest in the military industrial complex, or in the rebuilding of slaughtered communities (and we call it 'ethical investments' for the moronic 'woke' people so they stop thinking about who they give their money to). We train out fighter pilots, drone operators, bomb technicians, and intelligence agencies in games and simulations directly developed from wargames and RPGs. RPGs and wargames are an extension of battle planning simulations, so is there really that much difference between someone who likes to go murder hobo in a fantasy game, someone who likes to run around CoD killing other players, someone who likes to run around the woods with a paintball gun, someone who carries a real weapon and pits his skills against gang members robbing convenience stores, and someone who stands a post in Afghanistan? It is all just a matter of degree, personal preference, how much money you make, how much risk you take, and how much you can pretend that your life and future are not supported by the deaths of people you don't know. We simply contract out your morality to others and pretend we are ethical because someone else is making the kill decision for us.

We didn't get our Xmas turkey in our food orders from either Sainsburys or Asda, so ours is not gonna be on par when we have the sprouts and potatoes and everything and no bird. But my wife's friend got theirs only to discover that her and her husband have just lost their sense of smell. So their Xmas with all the trimmings may not be their best either.

Kids are pretty robust, and appear to be largely unaffected, but they are wonderful carriers.

We thinks my wife had it early on (back in March), but don't have any way of knowing for sure. She had pains in her lungs and exhaustion to the point that we had packed a bag for her in case we needed to phone emergency services. Even now and ever since, she has ongoing strange pains which she is putting down to lingering issues.
I had a few chest pains a few weeks before her, but nothing serious, however, at the same time my wife got ill, I woke up one morning and couldn't use my legs. I've not been out of the house since. I can now walk around the house with crutches, but there isn't any explanation for me losing the ability to walk, and there's been no medical services here in Scotland since this all began.

Our system here is f"cked because care is based upon a big pity party and whichever pity group is politically desirable to expend money on. Money goes to the biggest bleeding hearts that manage to get the most press at any one time. The whole system being run by left wing liberals who claim their half million pound salaries are in some way socially acceptable. No conflict there. Help the poor and needy so long as it doesn't come out of their pocket.

The US system works if you have the money for it, or can trust that your insurer will pay up, but if you don't have the money its probably worse than ours. It's like the UK system is a socialist commune helping the poorest people and giving no care whatsoever to people who are needed to make society function, so me spend ridiculous amounts on drug abuse, breast implants, nose jobs, gender reassignment and talking about stuff (therapy I think they call it). But 80% of the resources are expended on 20% of the population and the rest are told to FO. With the system in the US its the polar opposite. If you function well and are required by society, your remuneration ensures that you either have enough money, or enough health care, to keep you working and functioning in society, and if you live your life contributing nothing to society, then your system tells you to FO.

Surely there must be a middle ground.

In regard to your early work, I too was working from age 12 washing staircases in blocks of flats in my neighbourhood to get money for my D&D. I've worked ever since. I don't get the idea of sitting around on your arse and expecting everyone else to work and give you money. Just like stagnant water, if they sit around they end up scummy. I think they've made it illegal for kids to work in the UK now. They want our kids to grow up scummy. Luckily some turn to online enterprise, and sadly others turn to gangs, but they are taking action rather than sitting on their asses.

In regard to Covid, I cannot believe the masses didn't see this coming in February. China locks down everyone in an area the size of Europe, and 19 out of 20 people thought, "meh, it's probably not that dangerous and it won't come here." How fucking dumb are these people? The errors in handling Covid have been far exceeded by the stupidity of the general public, so when someone asks, why didn't the government lock down the airports? Or why didn't the government buy enough PPE for the hospitals? I'd ask, where is your respirator? That was a £20 decision you couldn't be bothered taking to protect you and your family, and you're questioning why the government was slow in making a billion pound decision to fuck a whole county's economy?

I wonder how many people are thinking and planning for the year ahead, and how many are just sitting around thinking everything will be back to normal when we get a vaccine?

Like you said, it took them 20 years to find a treatment for HIV. They never found a vaccine for it, and they cannot stop people from spreading it. They can only reduce the illness and progression. As for the other SARS and MERS viruses, they have been studying them for 16 years and 10 years respectively (about) and never managed to create a vaccine for those either. But, hey presto, we've made one for Covid. No need to test it. Just give us complete immunity from prosecution and we're good to go. You can start injecting your sheep in a week.

Irony here though - I saw this change in society's structure about 10 years back. The change of focus, the change of resource allocation, etc. I couldn't see the catalyst or know when, but I saw the momentum and the move, and I planned accordingly. So I have few worries. I did see the virus and bought most of what I needed before prices started to move and resources disappeared. Hell, in the UK sellers of respirators were told to cease selling to the public, and Amazon blocked sales of them. Late and pointless, but they were only doing what they were told. I didn't foresee losing the use of my legs though. You cannot cover all the bases. There can always be a curveball you didn't see coming.

Given the choice (and of course I have no choice here) but given the choice, when my young one is of an age where they can choose to act, I would rather they sought money and success, and focussed on that, than choosing an ideology. Not because one is any better than the other, but because money is a more singular focus and teaches them that they must collaborate and work together in order to succeed. Whereas ideologies teach children that they must all talk and think together and subjugate themselves to the wills and whims of their leaders in order to fit in and be accepted by their piers. They think they are learning to work together and collaborate, but what they are learning is conformity and obedience. Many are only a few steps away from the Sea Org.

I would rather a child had a desire to help and was hated for succeeding at it, than driven by a hatred of people in order to feel accepted by their piers.