How COVID-19 is affecting society

[detrius]

Yeah, I know, they are doing the best they can with what they have. I'm just always surprised when top media professionals don't know how 'new media' works.

Most of these people usually don't even come close to the tech they rely on.

Just look at the number of people involved in a film crew: Film crew - Wikipedia

Makes you wonder why the people who just contribute their pretty faces and voices to the product make millions while the people who are actually operating the cameras, microphones and lights have much more common salaries.

 

[OrinB]

Yeah, I know, they are doing the best they can with what they have. I'm just always surprised when top media professionals don't know how 'new media' works.

Now you know why the technician grades in Film and TV are so valuable! I meet plenty of people who you would think "would" know better, but they don't. As a producer i make it my business to know so that people use my info and my experience and i get work!

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

 

[Kara Spengler]

I'm desperately hoping there's an effective vaccine readily available before that second wave hits.

Yeah, if there is a second wave it could be worse than the first. After letting people out after months of lockdown it will be harder to get them inside again. Worldwide supplies will be depleted and we will not have had a chance to build them back up again. Many people that can help will be sick or exhausted. Finally the virus will not be coming from just one place. Which is why this being seasonal would be the worst thing imaginable.

 

[Kara Spengler]

Maybe that explains why the late night talk show hosts are on crappy consumer grade web cams and cell phones.

I think Colbert and John Oliver are the main exceptions. They have decent home studio setups. Oliver even has a green screen. Other than them... when I flip around the late night Jimmies, their home web cams are horrible. I always assumed that anybody who is successful in show business would have a decent camera. They get paid how much money to perform for cameras and they aren't shutter bugs at all? The camera is like their instrument. Them not owning a good camera is like Hendrix not owning any guitars or something. These late night hosts don't have one decent DSLR or even mirrorless camera that can shoot above 480? I think Fallon is shooting with his iPhone. For the money he spent on the iPhone, he could have gotten a good camera, a decent audio interface, an SM59 mic, and had money left over for accessories.

Also, somebody really needs to explain sample rate to these Hollywood 'elites'. Hugh Jackman was on Fallon earlier tonight, and he tried singing. I know the guy can sing well without autotune, but with crap audio sample rates, it sounded terrible. Also, Fallon tried tap dancing, and at the frame rates he's working with, on top of the audio sample rate issues, it was a total disaster. The equipment they are using is good for conversations, but that's it. They should know better than to try fancy performances like that on them.

Yeah, I know, they are doing the best they can with what they have. I'm just always surprised when top media professionals don't know how 'new media' works.

I was perplexed by them too. My industry is IT and I already had a pretty good computer setup at home.

 

[Kara Spengler]

Most of these people usually don't even come close to the tech they rely on.

Just look at the number of people involved in a film crew: Film crew - Wikipedia

Makes you wonder why the people who just contribute their pretty faces and voices to the product make millions while the people who are actually operating the cameras, microphones and lights have much more common salaries.

Yeah, it is rare over my career that I have had a better computer (or plural) on my desk at work than my desk at home. I would imagine that is common in more than it.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Them not owning a good camera is like Hendrix not owning any guitars or something.

More like Hendrix not recording and editing his own records, I would have thought, or not being able to operate the sound systems at his own concerts.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

British Muslims find new ways to be together for Ramadan under lockdown

With mosques closed, prayers are moving online and video conferencing apps will host iftar parties at sunset

www.theguardian.com

In the UK, the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) called for the suspension of all congregational activities at mosques and Islamic centres on 16 March, a week before the government announced all places of worship must close under the lockdown order.

On Friday, the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board said Islamic buildings would remain closed during Ramadan until the lockdown is lifted. “It would be deemed extremely irresponsible to congregate for night prayers or hold religious gatherings during this Ramadan in any mosque or houses with people who are not members of the immediate household,” said Qari Asim, a Leeds imam and chair of the board.

“During the epidemic, the desire to perform prayers with a congregation in a mosque comes second to saving lives.”

For Muslims, to be unable to take part in congregational prayers and break the fast with family and friends during Ramadan was “emotionally challenging, frustrating and culturally alien”, he added.

 

[Caliandris]

Czechia has done 25 tests per confirmed case. UK has done 4. So they are more able to trace contacts of people and make sure they stay isolated/get checked regularly/etc. Their population is 10.65 million vs 67.9 million for the UK, so totals need to be adjusted for population size. UK density is 271/km^2 vs 134 for Czechia. Their largest city, Prague is 2.3 million metro vs 9.79 million for Greater London. London has a density of 5,631/km^2, while Prague has about 4,600, so not much different. Not sure what would account for the difference in deaths.

I have no scientific qualifications, but one of the things which has come up again and again is that medical staff are particularly at risk when they intubate a patient, because they are exposed to a high viral load from a critically ill patient and often their PPE does not protect them if they are inches away from the face of a coughing patient. The body overreacts to the infection when a high viral load is ingested and that provokes a cytokine storm of over reaction from the body which is very dangerous.

The one thing that fabric masks will do is to limit the amount of virus that you are in contact with, if you encounter someone with the virus. If they are also wearing a mask, the hope is that the amount of virus you contact will be low. And that seems to make a huge difference. Your body has a chance to react appropriately to the virus and fight it off. Medics who contact a big viral load do not have that chance, and it makes it more likely that they will die from an overreaction of their immune system which can take out even the healthiest of people as your own immune system begins not to be able to distinguish between the virus and its own organs.

It is my completely unproven opinion that the mask wearing is making the viral load less, and making it more likely that you can fight it off and not overreact to the infection. I think there are other things at play - certainly gender and ethnicity seems to have an influence and the Chinese reported that certain blood groups were more vulnerable and others less. But the big difference I think, is the viral load.

There's lots out there with theories... and a lot of information about different diseases and how mask wearing affects transmission. But just as the authorities here used the wrong sort of viral pneumonia to muck up their models at the beginning, I think that the University of East Anglia in their submission of research to the SAGE committee which is supposed to offer scientific advice to the government, have used a lot of mask wearing for other diseases and no research about the current epidemic of SARSCOV2. And it just doesn't behave like seasonal flu or viral pneumonia. It's not comparing apples with apples.

I think the UK government is demonstrating epic incompetence at the moment, in this as in many things. It is revealed this morning that they have instructed medics to treat Covid19 patients dressed in disposable plastic aprons as they are about to run out of surgical gowns. Meanwhile 10 companies able to make surgical gowns are being ignored when they try to batter their way into a discussion with the NHS procurement people in the UK - they say the only ones who are responsive to their offers to make 50K gowns in two weeks are the Northern Ireland government. For example.

I'm finding it very difficult to stay calm in the face of so much stupid.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

 

[Jolene Benoir]

It cuts down on evening parties, like the dummies who were congregating in someone's driveway locally, about half a dozen drinking and hanging out. The police broke it up and told them to go home.

That isn't happening where I live. My next door neighbor and a house across the street both are gang controlled drug house, I believe by the same gang. They have had and continue to have drinking parties in the street with 20+ people and continue dealing. Two nights ago there was a drive-by shooting aimed at the one across the street. It's not the first time that particular house has had a drive-by shooting. One man was shot in the head, the other the chest. Needless to say I dropped to the floor.

Last night the house next door called in 30+ of their best fellow gang members and had a screaming match in front of the house that had been the target of the shooting and over a distance of at least half the block. They then congregated in the street, in front of my house on the sidewalk and a number of others, drinking and, I suppose, plotting their revenge. The police must have been called as I saw a squad drive down the street slowly and they didn't even stop let alone disperse them. This went on for hours.

https://www.startribune.com/man-fighting-for-life-after-shooting-in-folwell-neighborhood-of-minneapolis/569738672/

 

[Robert Jung]

Covid goats for Beebo

 

[Sredni Eel]

I'm desperately hoping there's an effective vaccine readily available before that second wave hits.

In spite of all the assurances from Dear Leader, and how fast they got the serum through in the movie Outbreak, typical turn around time is 18 months for a vaccine.

Assuming a vaccine was being worked on in January, that means we won't have a vaccine much before May or June of 2021.

 

[Kara Spengler]

More like Hendrix not recording and editing his own records, I would have thought, or not being able to operate the sound systems at his own concerts.

Well, we are talking a setup more comparable to vlogging than what you need for a tv show. I would expect people in the entertainment industry to have something like that because they are exposed to bigger versions every day.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Well, we are talking a setup more comparable to vlogging than what you need for a tv show. I would expect people in the entertainment industry to have something like that because they are exposed to bigger versions every day.

Why would you expect them to be set up to make professional-standard recordings from home? Do they normally do that, or (like most of us) simply use what comes as part of whatever pc/laptop/tablet/phone they've bought for personal use at home?

Why would the presenter of a network late night chat show want professional-standard equipment at home? The job normally involves going to the TV studio, where the show is made using the studio's equipment, so I'd imagine the presenter's domestic set-up is similar to anyone else's, since they'll be using their cameras for similar purposes.

I'm sorry, but I just don't get it.

 

[Kara Spengler]

Why would you expect them to be set up to make professional-standard recordings from home? Do they normally do that, or (like most of us) simply use what comes as part of whatever pc/laptop/tablet/phone they've bought for personal use at home?

Why would the presenter of a network late night chat show want professional-standard equipment at home? The job normally involves going to the TV studio, where the show is made using the studio's equipment, so I'd imagine the presenter's domestic set-up is similar to anyone else's, since they'll be using their cameras for similar purposes.

I'm sorry, but I just don't get it.

Even the av setup on the typical home computer beats a phone. If they have kids odds are there is a gopro or something kicking around the house.

 

[Anya Ristow]

Why would you expect them to be set up to make professional-standard recordings from home?

It takes a couple hours of research to figure out a decent youtube-quality broadcast setup, and a few thousand dollars to acquire it. This is not beyond the means of someone doing this for a living, suddenly having to broadcast from home. Hell, they could do this with borrowed equipment. I bet their normal crew has this stuff at home as backup last-gen equipment to their current hobby setup.

 

[Anya Ristow]

Another possibility: It's intentionally low quality for the we're-in-this-together look.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Another possibility: It's intentionally low quality for the we're-in-this-together look.

Since, as you suggest, they could easily afford the equipment (or ask the studio to deliver some) I think the low-budget, home-made look probably a conscious choice, for whatever reason.

 

[Casey Pelous]

Innula's got it, folks. I was in broadcasting for decades, and I never had any of that crap at home -- it was work stuff. What would I have done with it? Hell, where would I have put it? For that matter, how would I have afforded it -- but I doubt that applies to Jimmy, Jimmy, et. al. Most talent would have no more idea how to operate pro level gear than they have of how the transmitter works. (Most wouldn't be able to FIND the transmitter if their life depended on it.)

Video that looks like it was shot in a professional studio with professional lighting through a professional camera operated by a professional camera operator looks that way because it was shot in a professional studio, etc. You don't just whip that up in your home office, no matter what YouTube told you.

These days, since my office is my studio, then yes, I have some nice audio goodies in here, but nothing for high quality video -- basically, just a webcam for the very occasional video call with a client. I guess if Hollywood calls, I'm ready?