How COVID-19 is affecting society

[Veritable Quandry]

Most college instructors already did a lot of work at home. I was on campus for classes, meetings, and office hours, but grading and prep has always been done at home. The University has had two-factor log ins and all student data stored on University servers for a long time. People with financial duties can already use a VPN to the University to access the financial system, with two factor log ins as well. And forced time-outs for most systems so there is a limited window if you leave a program open.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

How celebrities became the biggest peddlers of 5G coronavirus conspiracy theories

Wireless networks are not causing coronavirus. But A-listers and reality stars alike are trying to convince the public that they are.

www.newstatesman.com

 

[Sredni Eel]

There was an article in the German newspaper "Die Zeit", asking whether Trump is Prince Prospero from Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death"... or the Red Death himself.

They concluded that he's actually both characters.

I pointed it out to Trump back in February.

 

[Free]

What do sick people who do not drive or have someone to drive them do?

Call in sick?

(I know: BAD FREE!)

 

[Beebo Brink]

Since becoming president, he's reneged on various US treaties and agreements, convincing even its closest allies that the US is no longer a reliable partner.

More to the point, our rogue president has met only the most token resistance from the entire federal government. This is the most worrying aspect because ideally a single person could never cause that much damage to our country's reputation; ideally there would be not only mechanisms to prevent that, but the WILL to prevent it, by the majority of Congress and the Judiciary. That absence of universal resistance to Trump's action means that our "reliability" can't be fixed just by voting him out of office.

We are, in every meaning of that term, an "unreliable partner".

 

[Grandma Bates]

Most college instructors already did a lot of work at home. I was on campus for classes, meetings, and office hours, but grading and prep has always been done at home. The University has had two-factor log ins and all student data stored on University servers for a long time. People with financial duties can already use a VPN to the University to access the financial system, with two factor log ins as well. And forced time-outs for most systems so there is a limited window if you leave a program open.

Not only that but the unending, periodic, patronizing, and surprisingly idiotic quizzes that are mandatory to remind people about FERPA, human subjects, and the most basic security measures. It is amazing how poorly thought out some of the training exercises are that are aimed at professional educators. It is almost like they want to demonstrate bad behaviour for no other reason than to annoy. With respect to the vpn, it is also important to note that as a matter of best practices new versions and updates should always be rolled out the weekend before classes start.

Personally, I tried to keep things as separate as possible. That is likely to change for the long term. Now that habits are established and interrupting during the day is not tolerated it will be difficult to go back to the old ways. The downside to all of this is that people think it is much easier to call meetings on short notice because they assume all you have to do is click on a URL to start zoom. I have been in more meetings these last few weeks than the last several years total. That part cannot end soon enough.

 

[Sredni Eel]

 

[Sredni Eel]

I love Twitter today.

 

[Sid]

Vincent!!!

 

[Sredni Eel]

 

[Kara Spengler]

Coronavirus: ‘We're struggling to get a refund on our £17,000 chalet’

Holidaymakers say they are struggling to get refunds on cancelled holidays due to the lockdown.

www.bbc.co.uk

My heart bleeds for them.

Yes, I can understand their disappointment and chagrin, but that's money they'd already decided they could afford to spend on an expensive holiday, and other people have far more pressing financial concerns as a result of the emergency.

Yeah, there have been lots of people doing that. Given I (and a lot of people) can only afford to go on a real vacation every few decades I have no sympathy about ruined vacations for people that do it yearly.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

"COVFEFE-19", lol

 

[Sovereignty]

My niece works as a radiological technician at a hospital.

The hospital had previously hired a number of contract workers to handle overload, but with the cancellation of surgeries, fewer car accidents, etc. there is not enough work. So the hospital sent a lot of regular employees home without pay because they have to pay the contract workers no matter what.

Things are not good for her. With shortage of N95 masks she sometimes wears just a surgeon's mask. Also, when she does a CT scan, she has to stay in the room absorbing extra radiation. If she left the room she would have to remove the PPE and then don new PPE which is not feasible.

All the patients on ventilators are black men. Sad statement about inequality.

 

[Free]

This is mean...

Yoko Ono Sings on City Streets to Ensure NY Residents Stay Inside

At the urging of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Yoko Ono has agreed to sing, to keep residents off of city streets. Governor Cuomo stated “Yoko will be used strategically wherever and whenev…

madhousemagazine.com

Governor Cuomo stated “Yoko will be used strategically wherever and whenever a crowd forms. Just today we deployed Ms. Ono to Crown Heights, Brooklyn, where a wedding was taking place. There were 300 guests congregating and within 3 minutes, the streets were completely empty. It was a sight to see, those people were running through the streets and jumping out of windows to escape the horrific screeching.”

 

[Sredni Eel]

This is mean...

Yoko Ono Sings on City Streets to Ensure NY Residents Stay Inside

At the urging of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Yoko Ono has agreed to sing, to keep residents off of city streets. Governor Cuomo stated “Yoko will be used strategically wherever and whenev…

madhousemagazine.com

 

[Kara Spengler]

Isn't there, though, a reasonable expectation that staff working from home will understand the importance of logging out of their work accounts when they're not using them, and sleeping the screen when the machine is unattended, just as there's a reasonable expectation that, when they get home from work under more normal circumstances, they know not to discuss confidential work matters with their friends and family?

Or am I missing something somewhere?

As I saw somewhere there is a difference between working from home and trying to work from home in an emergency. For example, if you have kids normally they would be at school or daycare. I have been at work stuff and my spouse has been on camera several times.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

As I saw somewhere there is a difference between working from home and trying to work from home in an emergency. For example, if you have kids normally they would be at school or daycare. I have been at work stuff and my spouse has been on camera several times.

Reading between the lines of our UK Information Commissioner's Office's FAQ on Covid-19, where appropriate they're going to be enforcing the spirit rather than the letter of data protection regulations for as long as the emergency lasts, and if something ever becomes so great an issue that it does attract their attention, that'll be because it's something far worse than a technical breach.

I hope US regulators and courts take a similar view.

 

[Kara Spengler]

I'm surprised they do that. Here in Portland, if someone dies with no money, no family or friends they cremate the body.

Yes, I was wondering the same thing.

 

[Fionalein]

Yes, I was wondering the same thing.

I think they can only handle so much cases an hour ... also they might need extra precautions when burning contaminated bodies...

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I'm surprised they do that. Here in Portland, if someone dies with no money, no family or friends they cremate the body.

Yes, but I think that, during the present pandemic, the authorities are finding a lot of dead bodies with no obvious next-of-kin, whether they're because they're homeless people found dead on the streets or in hostels, or simply because they live alone and have no close family or friends checking in on them.

Under normal circumstances, they'd be making efforts to trace next of kin, but I can well imagine that, at the moment, they'll rely on next of kin to contact them, and then, if they haven't heard very soon, then bury the bodies, at least temporarily, until someone does file a missing persons report or until there's time to pursue the matter when the emergency is over.