#So I got a PCR test and am waiting on those results

[obeythedemons]

I am debating something, but I should probably wait until I’m not running a fever to decide.

[liu-lang]

i tested positive for covid today, saturday, dec 18

i'm quite certain i got it from my roommate who got it from another group of friends. my roommate tested negative last week and we thought we were all in the clear. monday, december 13 she doesn't feel well but chalked it up to being hungover as she had gone on a date at the weekend. she starts coughing and hopes it's a cold.

wednesday, december 15, her coughing is worse. she gets a test on thursday, december 16. i'm on campus for finals and work and i go to one of those covid test tents outside campus, i get a rapid antigen test and a pcr test. no idea what's going on with processing tests but i don't get the antigen test results back in 15 min and my pcr test doesn't come back in 24 to 48 hours.

i try my best to quarantine from wednesday, december 15 to now. i start to rmbr that i've had a sore throat for awhile, definitely some time earlier this week but i can't rmbr which exact day. I don’t think much of it at the time as I thought my roommate was negative.

i start to have a cough, headache and body aches too but i attribute that to my body crashing after my anxiety attack about my presentation. the person my roommate went on a date with tells her that they tested positive. my 3rd roommate tested negative this morning and left the apartment. but since i've just tested positive today, they will retest. Both my roommates are fully vaccinated but not boosted.

the work week ends and i finally have time to get tested this morning. the mobile test sites don't operate at the weekend which is a bummer. i go to a small independent (like not a cvs or rite aid) pharmacy and get a rapid antigen test. they call me in 10 min around 11h00 and say i'm negative. at the small pharmacy, my insurance doesn't cover pcr tests and i can't afford to pay out of pocket.

i walked around trying to find pcr testing sites. i go to urgent care where there is a long line going out the door, around the building. i wait in queue. it starts to rain and it's freezing, like 4 C. i didn't think the weather would be this gloomy so i'm not dressed to wait in queue, i don't have my gloves. i wait in queue from 11h~ to around 14h~. the queue moves along to where i'm allowed inside. the medical assistant says they only do pcr tests, results come in 3 days. no antigen rapid tests unless you have an appointment. i'm worried but i try and comfort myself tt i just had a negative rapid antigen test, i'm just here to be cautious. i'm the only person coughing in the waiting room ; it also doesn't help i'm chinese. i stand in a corner facing the wall trying to stifle my cough.

they take me into an exam room and take vitals and a medical history. i tell them about my roommate testing positive, the timeline of her symptoms and mine, my own heart defects. they decided to give me a rapid antigen test. after 15 min the PA comes inside and tells me i have covid. i'm so tired and cold at this point i can't really process it. she assures me that since i'm double vaccinated and boosted (all moderna) hopefully i will just have a mild case and it's likely it's omicron. the medical assistant who took my vitals told me earlier that most people testing positive are vaccinated and boosted.

i walk home and i skype call tiny kitty and my boyfriend, he is worried, i am worried. i decide to tell my twin but not my little sister since my little sister has a different relationship to our mum than us. i think my little sister would feel more burdened having to keep this info from my mum. i think about how my mum got covid last year around christmas too and had to go to hospital.

i get flashbacks about my pneumonia hospitalisations in beijing and my cellulitis hospitalisations this July and try to stop my mind from wandering. I don’t wanna be alone in hospital again. i have therapy on monday, i think to myself tt i have time to process this then. i have a final project that is due wednesday, dec 22. i'm really worried about this - i don't want to ask for an extension yet idk how i can do it all this weekend having covid. i just want this semester to be over. i email my classmates and professor from tuesday and thursday that i have covid. i still need to email my employer - i feel really bad about it as i just started this job and it's a job i have to do on campus.

right now i'm resting at home, i'm checking my temperature (i have a fever) and my oxygen levels, i have enough groceries to last me the 10 days of quarantine. i'm bummed out tt i have a few friends who've returned to nyc for holidays and now i might not be able to see them. i'm also thinking about my plan to go back to socal in mid-jan to see my boyfriend and tiny kitty :( and whether i'll get to do it.

[awrldalone]

7th August 2021, 7.52pm

Well, fuck. Today has been a rollercoaster. 

I finally tested negative for covid. The pharmacist asked me if she needed to open a folder on me because of how many times I have gotten tested. I joked she hopefully did not need to do that because that would be my last test. And it was my last test. 

After the tragicomic results of last Tuesday, I have to admit that my fate owed me that. On Monday I did a PCR test, and chatted with the kind lady that stuck a swab up my nostril and down my throat. On Tuesday, the test came back negative. I still had symptoms, but it was negative. I was so happy, I booked a ticket to see the Tour Eiffel. Then, I went to get tested again, since the test needs to be not older than 48 hours to take a plane and there were no planes for the same day or the day after. The test was, unfortunately, positive. 

I was with a girl, waiting, and the pharmacist said there was a positive. I said that it was obviously me, but she said that it was the girl. An immense weight got lifted from my chest. Her co-worker went to check, and when she came back she told me she was sorry, but that it was me who was positive.

Today, I went there at 3.30 p.m. And I was negative. I wanted to scream. I walked out of the pharmacy with my paper, past a woman who got angry at me because I did not say good morning. Weirdo.

I called my father, we managed to book an aeroplane for tomorrow night. By midnight I will be home.

But no Tour Eiffel for me anyway. Today and tomorrow, extraordinarily, it’s closed. I spent the afternoon walking mindlessly. At least I have an excuse to come back to Paris, I guess. It started hailing, and I found shelter in a bookstore. I always find myself checking out the sections for teens, since the books are easier to read in a foreign language. I found nothing interesting, so I put my coat over my head and I ran through the street until I entered one of the famous Galeries. 

They are stunning. A chilly wind passed through the corridor, the rain and ice ricocheted off the glass ceiling. 

In the metro, coming home, I checked Instagram. I should not have. This morning, while struggling to get up from bed, I posted a story on my private complaining about how no one is madly in love with me. It is a real problem, not to feel loved enough. 

V. had replied to it with an emoji with a raised eyebrow, and I had replied “why?”. His reply popped up on my screen. He said it was not true that no one loves me. He said he should have been clearer, that he thought he had been clear enough with his signals, that he should have kissed me the 14th of July when were on Pont Alexandre III watching the fireworks. He said that he likes me. 

I did not know what to respond. My father called me when I was swiping my ticket. He confirmed he managed to get the flight, and he started talking about how to get to the airport, and about other details. I listened. Or rather, I pretended to listen. How am I meant to remember those things when I was frenetically trying to find the right metro train to take? Chatelet is big and disorientating. 

On the train I replied to him. I told him I did not know what to say. Sometimes, I think it is best to be frank and say the truth. I started panicking. I cannot tell him I do not like him, it would ruin our friendship. I cannot tell him I do like him, it would ruin our friendship. 

I also cannot make up some stupid excuse like “you do not know me enough”, because I am too open not to be known enough. I could say that “I do not know you enough”, because I feel like I do not, but whose fault is it if not mine? I’m just too much of an asshole to care enough about others. I should have listened more, been more interested. And what if I lead him on? What if he thought I liked him, and that is why he opened up? Then I’d be the asshole who played with his feelings.

I just wish he had told me in real life. He could have waited a week. One week. 

-c.

[niccirobertson]

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve made a concerted effort to distance myself from just about every news feed and platform that has nothing better to do than report the latest covid statistics. The reason for this is quite honestly, like many people I have had enough. Despite my best efforts, the media bombardment is so pervasive that an update got through, and instead of deleting it, I did the math.

In South Africa at the time of receiving that update there were supposedly 1 039 161 positive cases counted, with 20 033 deaths. I am no maths genius but it wasn’t a stretch to figure out that this was around 2%. I then looked for the data for the United States which is also around 2% and the UK which is around 3%. On average this virus has a mortality rate of 2.5% with the majority of those deaths affecting the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions, otherwise known as co-morbidities. Except that the data reflected is questionable. 


When you sift through the conspiracy theories and start talking to credible professionals in the medical industry you begin to see a pattern emerging. Looking at the data of years gone by, pneumonia and flu viruses year on year have also resulted in between a 1% and 2% death rate. So why the hysteria? 


According to the WHO: A pandemic is defined as “an epidemic occurring worldwide, or over a very wide area, crossing international boundaries and usually affecting a large number of people”. The classical definition includes nothing about population immunity, virology or disease severity. By this definition, pandemics can be said to occur annually in each of the temperate southern and northern hemispheres, given that seasonal epidemics cross international boundaries and affect a large number of people. This happens every year but the world doesn’t come to a grinding halt because of it. 


According to the British Medical Journal the PCR test is inaccurate, picking up dead and ineffective virus particles that may be found on most people, most of the time. It states that the PCR test, never designed for this kind of testing has an error margin of 97%. That’s insanity no matter how you want to spin it. If the widely accepted method for determining whether or not a person is infected is fundamentally flawed, the resulting data is completely inaccurate. 

Added to which, the death statistics are also questionable. They do not define who died because of the virus or with the virus. For example, a colleague’s mother passed away from pancreatic cancer in July, yet the death certificate states covid19 as cause of death. This is not an isolated incident. 

The World Health Organisation guidelines state that “COVID-19 should be recorded on the medical certificate of cause of death for ALL decedents where the disease, or is assumed to have caused, or contributed to death, i.e. COVID-19 is the underlying cause of death”. This means no one really knows how many have died directly from a covid infection.
The Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine has shown that one in thirteen (7.8%) deaths with COVID-19 on the death certificate did not have the disease as the underlying cause of death, further distorting the data. 

The decisions directly related to our lives and livelihoods are based on inaccurate or distorted data and no one is doing anything about it. 

Enough about the deliberate distortion of the facts. The question is why is this happening?
There is a frenetic urgency to get the world vaccinated. Bill Gates began pushing the vaccination agenda way back in 2013 if not earlier. And naturally people, at least people who can still think for themselves are extremely wary of this vaccine. At the time of writing this, the vaccine has only been available for a couple of weeks, and in this short window the significant adverse effects in those already having received the vaccination is 3% based on recent published information. Higher than the death rate of the virus. If you were to go by statistics alone, the vaccine will kill more people than the virus. 

The pharmaceutical companies and their stakeholders are naturally elated that the powers that be are enforcing and coercing people into having to accept this vaccine, creating the illusion that their freedom lies on the other side of a needle. And further perpetuating the myth that drugs are going to save you. Bearing in mind that the manufacturers of this technology are free of any kind of liability arising from death or damage caused by a substance that is being trialed simultaneously on millions of people. In simple terms, if the vaccine harms you or renders you infertile you have no recourse. 

Recently a second strain of the virus has emerged, This is nothing new - viruses mutate. This is why there is a different flu strain each season. It has been a year since the first strain emerged and as viruses seem to be excellent timekeepers, its right on schedule for an upgrade. This is further going to throw a spanner into the vaccine works. Will the current vaccine work with the new strain or create other complications? If people have indeed contracted the original virus, will taking the vaccine have immune suppressing effects rendering them more vulnerable to other strains? Pregnant women and women of “child bearing age” have been warned by the NHS  not to take the vaccine because it may render them sterile or have deleterious effects on the foetus. But its ok to give this unknown quantity to the elderly or your child? I think not. 

What happened to freedom of choice? What happened to autonomy? What happened to informed consent? What happened to common sense? 
For me personally, the most disturbing part of this experience is how people I thought of as free thinking, intelligent individuals are simply kowtowing, going with the flow because they don’t want to be seen as outliers. It baffles me how so many people are afraid of voicing an opinion. It wasn’t so long ago that the Nazis used this kind of brainwashing and propaganda to commit genocide. And we are going down this path again with our eyes wide open. 


Back in early 2020 governments the world over were advised by the WHO to impose widespread lockdown measures in order to curb the spread of the virus. The media were so distracted with whether or not the virus came from a bat or a pangolin that no one thought to ask if these counter measures at controlling people was the best option for the economies of the world in the first place. No one gave any thought to the destruction that would ensue. How many people would lose their jobs, livelihoods and minds in the process. Because we trusted the people we vote for to do what is in our best interest.


The second-largest funder of the WHO is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which provides 9.8% of the WHO’s funds, effectively calling the shots! After Trump pulled funding, The World Health Organisation is now effectively owned by Microsoft and China. Bloody terrifying thought that is!


It is now too late to put the genie back in the bottle. For governments to admit that they acted without a full understanding of the facts or unable to foresee the chaos and destruction that would ensue, going back and admitting they were wrong will result in chaos, crippling class actions and people in power being forced to step down. There will be anarchy. Confidence in governments the world over has been severely compromised not to mention the unstable public option of giant pharmaceutical companies. 

The puppet masters at the WHO (Gates) is also a major shareholder in Pfizer. Incidentally the Gates foundation funded the development of the Pfizer owned sterilisation contraceptive Sayana, targeting specifically third world countries. At the risk of joining the ranks of the conspiracy theorists, it seems that the company who gave birth to computer viruses has also given birth to a means of enforced sterilisation. 

Getting rid of the elderly and ill, controlling those who are young and able though fear and ensuring that those who can have children are stopped in their tracks. The facts really do speak for themselves, but you can connect the dots?

Perhaps people do nothing and say nothing because they feel that their opinions don’t count? They they won’t be heard amongst the noise created by the media and the hysteria? People don’t speak up because they are afraid of what there peers may think of them. And this is why the greatest tragedies throughout human history happen. People who do nothing. People who say nothing. In the face of glaring evidence that the emperor is wearing no clothes, the average person waits for someone else to take action.  We are in a mess and in the hands of people who do not have anyones best interest at heart except for themselves and their own agendas. 


So what good can possibly come from this situation? Thankfully some have realised that their health is in their own hands and no one can save them except for themselves. If you take the steps to stay healthy - eat real food, get decent sleep, surround yourself with positive people and exercise - preferably in the sunlight, chances are you won’t even know if you catch a virus because your body is innately geared towards protecting you from getting seriously ill.


It has hopefully brought to light the logical realisation that if you aren’t feeling well, stay at home. Wash your hands and don’t sneeze on people.


With luck, more of us will wake up and realise that no vaccine or drug can save you from bad decisions. Giant corporations are not creating vaccines because they care about you, they care about their profits. If they engineered medicine for altruistic purposes they would be non-profits not multibillion dollar organisations. And perhaps more people will realise that governments and government institutions are controlled by the private sector who are the giants they are, because we, the public created them. 

We buy their products, whether the product is software, insurance, junk food or drugs. We created these organisations who are controlling the governments who are controlling us - with fear.  With hope more people we will start to see the self perpetuating, destructive cycle that we have come to think of as normal, or maybe not.


My greatest wish for you in 2021 who ever you are, wherever you are, is to wake up and take responsibility for you own health, your own choices and your own autonomy. Speak up when something doesn’t add up and stop feeding the fear.


https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4916

https://www.icd10monitor.com/false-positives-in-pcr-tests-for-covid-19

https://www.chiropractic.org/informed-consent-and-freedom-of-choice-on-vaccination-issues/
https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/death-certificate-data-covid-19-as-the-underlying-cause-of-death/

https://sif.gatesfoundation.org/investments/pfizer/

https://www.devex.com/news/big-concerns-over-gates-foundation-s-potential-to-become-largest-who-donor-97377

[bike42]

Traveling to Africa

The anticipation and logistics leading up to the trip were like nothing I can recall. Partly due to lack of major adventures this past two years, but also made more complex with COVID precautions and necessary documents.

Carrie at Embark (our expedition leader) was helpful with getting us to secure our Tanzania visa in advance, although convincing our IT security firewall as well as our credit card company that these $100 transactions with the Tanzanian government were legitimate was a whole other deal!

Then there were health declaration documents that needed to be completed for Amsterdam and Tanzania, along with the regular declaration stuff (why are you coming here, where and how long are you staying …).

Next was the health documentation - copies of our vaccination records, and securing PCR COVID testing the day before we traveled. One of my biggest sources of angst the past few weeks was “what if after all this time and planning, one of us tested positive?” Jeff and I were tested Wednesday at 8 am, and I checked the “MyChart” no less than 30 times that day. Just before 8 pm, we got our negative results and our travel companions all got theirs about the same time - huge sigh of relief. Our travel doc wrote a letter certifying we had been fully vaccinated and tested negative by PCR, but she warned us that many travelers reported being extorted and having to submit to COVID tests when they arrived at their destinations, so we went trying to stay open minded and ready for anything.

The packing logistics were a bit challenging, but we had all that time together hiking the IAT to discuss, plus Embark provided us with great guidance including lists and videos. Jeff and I “practice packed” our waterproof duffels (we bought 70L NRS roll top bags like we’d used on our river trip last year). We’ll take those on the trek with our sleeping bags and extra clothes, but they’ll need to be under 30 pounds as the porters will be carrying them on their heads. After our practice pack, we loaded them up with extra clothes and toiletries that won’t be part of the trek. We put our backpacks inside of other packs and carried those on the plane. Once we arrive in Tanzania, we’ll be able to leave our safari clothes and extra stuff at the hotel during our hike, and then leave our hiking stuff while we safari - so the extra bag will come in handy!

We left home about noon on Thursday, with Ryan dropping us off at the airport. We met Gary at the check-in desk, and the lady there did a thorough check of our travel documents - health record including vaccination and testing record, Tanzania visa and of course our passports. Our boarding passes were marked with “documents checked,” and surprisingly, we didn’t have to show any other documents the whole trip. Nonetheless, my usual travel binder was twice as full as usual with reservation confirmations, our travel insurance policy, and all of the previously completed declarations and visa documents.

It was an easy trip to Detroit. Jeff and I got a complimentary upgrade to First Class which was nice. I had a gin and tonic and a bag of almonds - nice relaxing start to a long travel expedition! We had about 2 hours in Detroit, so we first went to the Delta Club, where it was no charge to bring Gary along. We filled up on salads and stuffed extra cookies into our bags.

The plane from Detroit to Amsterdam was about half full, so we had the middle Comfort Plus row to ourselves, which made it easy to get up and move about when your seat partner was sleeping or watching a movie. The mediocre airline food wasn’t such a big deal since we’d filled up at the Delta Club in Detroit, and knew we’d have access to the KLM lounge in Amsterdam.

I think we arrived about 8am on Friday. We walked a few gates, looked at the status board and found we were practically right at our departure gate … and there we found Kent & Lynn and Dan & Tam who had arrived earlier from Chicago. We had two hours to kill, so we brushed our teeth, walked a bit, went to the KLM club, Jeff and Gary played some cribbage. Then before we knew it, we were loading onto the KLM jet for our eight hour fight to Kilimanjaro Airport in Arusha, Tanzania. I had a window seat, and most of Europe was cloudy, but it cleared up to see some mountains, sweeping coastlines somewhere over the Mediterranean … and then it was dark again - felt like the shortest day ever.

We arrived in Tanzania shortly after 9 pm, and joined the tired and confused crowd walking down the stairs onto the tarmac. Our first bottleneck came where one guy was holding back a crowd of hundreds, making us produce our boarding passes to get past him (we just came off that airplane, how would we have gotten there without a boarding pass?). Then about an hour wait to get to the “health screening” desk which was set up outside. A women took our temperature and wrote down a control number on a scrap of paper. She told us to go to another desk to pay $10 for our COVID test. I realized that was part of the online form we’d filled out before leaving home. She wasn’t interested in seeing the results we’d brought with us. The only way into Tanzania was to stand in another line, have your brain poked by a guy in a white lab coat (hope those were fresh gloves), and then wait until your name is called with the results. Then another long wait in the border control line. Those of us with prepaid visas had a different line, but it didn’t seem to be faster one way or the other.

Gary got through first, Jeff and I about 10 minutes later - only to discover that Jeff checked bag didn’t make it. To make it even more confusing, his bag had his luggage tickets (and priority handling tag), but the airline barcode sticker had my name on it. So the airline thinks they’ve lost my bag, but when they find it, it’ll look like it belongs to someone else. Jeff found a helpful guy to start the claim, and he found that in Amsterdam, the bag way loaded onto a different bag and went to Nairobi instead. He said, no problem, we’ll get it delivered to you tomorrow (we’ll see).

The other four were further back in the plane, and therefore, they were practically the last group to clear customs. Tam had just learned that our hotel in Moshi was changed, so we were able to go back and modify our claim to hopefully get the bag routed to the right place. We’ve had this work out okay once before (coincidentally, with a transfer in Amsterdam), so fingers crossed that it works out this time too! All of his hiking gear is in that bag!

It was nearly midnight when we got outside and connected with the transport that Embark had arranged. A guide named Hans, and a driver whose name I didn’t capture. Now we were faced with the unsettling feeling that comes on a bus, driving on the left side, with headlights barreling at you in what seems like the wrong side of the road. It was about an hour to Moshi, with a rough road, several small settlements where we’d slow down, speed bumps and rough train tracks. We were glad to get to our new accommodations: Bristol Cottages, and find they were expecting us!

Our cottage was rustic, but clean. Two single beds, each with a bundle of mosquito netting hung over the bed (we didn’t use it, have been taking anti-malaria medication for 5 days now and hope that’s enough). I unpacked and organized my stuff. Jeff, not having much stuff, brushed his teeth and promptly fell into a deep sleep.

Just over 24 hours of travel time, including waiting for planes. The long flights were pretty comfortable and we napped intermittently … but are now feeling completely exhausted and will sleep good tonight!

[classyfoxdestiny]

'Amitabh Bachchan does bully a lot'

'Amitabh Bachchan does bully a lot'

‘He will keep saying, ‘I won’t do it,’ but he still comes and does it; that’s part of who he is.’ ‘He is certainly a prankster.’ ‘He is a director’s delight.’

IMAGE: Director Arun Sheshkumar with Amitabh Bachchan on the sets of Kaun Banega Crorepati. Photograph: Kind courtesy Arun Sheshkumar/Instagram

Arun Sheshkumar has been directing Kaun Banega Crorepati for seven years.

“The TRPs are saying it all. Viewers are back,” says Arun, talking about the reception to the latest season ofn KBC.

“For Mr Bachchan, the beauty of KBC is that he gets to meet the common man. He gets to know their stories in their own words, gets their reactions instantly. That’s what makes it very special for him. As a result, his energy has increased fourfold over the years. When we take a break of about 6-8 months between seasons, he’s looking forward to the next shoot,” Arun tells Rediff.com Contributor Prateek Sur.

You’ve been directing KBC for over half the show’s life. How has your life changed since you took on KBC?

I think life has been pretty good.

It changed for the better after KBC.

It is one of the most professional shows on Indian television in terms of the shooting process. It is up to world standards.

It is great to be associated with the show.

Every director dreams of being a part of one big show in his life and, for me, that happened with KBC.

I had done almost all the properties across non-fiction in Indian television. My parents would ask me, ‘When are you going to direct KBC?’

It was more like a status symbol within my family and friends’s circle. After that day came, there was no looking back. It’s a great feeling.

What’s your first memory of meeting Amitabh Bachchan for KBC?

There is a little story that dates back to a seven-year-old Arun Sheshkumar who is a mad, mad fan of Mr Bachchan. In fact, my study room was full of collages of Mr Bachchan’s magazine cutouts. I was a typical fanboy. I still have those photographs with me.

My friends too were mad fans of Amitabh Bachchan. Every October 11, we would wait outside his bungalow from 7 am for a picture, for that darshan he gives everyone on his birthday.

A couple of years later, I became one of the privileged few who got a chance to meet him on his birthday every year. I used to give him flowers. He used to send a note thanking me for the flowers and for reaching out to him. Then, one day, I actually got the chance to actually work with him at an event. I was stumped!

Finally, when KBC came along, it was a dream come true even though, by then, you’re a much more seasoned and mature person.

Now, you’re in the director’s chair, so the command is different. Yet, it was an absolute pleasure. It took about 30 to 60 minutes to break the ice with him and it took a couple of days for us to get comfortable with each other.

Till then, he was being directed by Siddharth Basu on KBC. One day Mr Basu told Mr Bachchan that he was going to hand over the reins; that was the kind of introduction I got.

The respect came right there and my work, I believe, has earned me more respect over the years. Mr Bachchan calls me Arun and that itself is a lifetime achievement. It’s like winning a national film award.

IMAGE: Amitabh Bachchan shoots for Season 13 of KBC. Photograph: Kind courtesy Amitabh Bachchan/Instagram

It’s Season 13. Are there any additions to the game format?

Every year, we try to reinvent ourselves. This time, there are two changes. The fastest finger first round has changed completely. And the response we have got for the revamped process after the initial episodes aired has been brilliant. People have loved the new format.

Earlier, those competing in the fastest finger first round had four options that you needed to present in the correct order. Needless to say, you needed to be the fastest to do so.

The pressure to answer in the right order in order to reach the hot seat was too intense. We felt a lot of people were not getting the right opportunity to reach the hot seat.

The new format levels the playing field for contestants who are not technologically savvy.

This year, we have returned to the original format of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Season 1, which too has changed over the years. But the original fastest finger first format was on Mr Siddharth Basu’s mind for the longest time.

In the format we are using now, contestants have to answer three rapid-fire questions. Whoever answers correctly, in the least amount of time, will reach the hot seat.

As far as the set goes, we haven’t disturbed it too much.

We have retained the classic set, but we brought in more technology like augmented reality.

We now have LED flooring with an AR mapping projection system, which gives you the illusion that it’s a well.

We’ve also got a virtual ceiling.

So, a lot of technology has come in.

Will the ‘audience poll’ lifeline return this season?

We had discontinued this lifeline last year.

But now, the audience is back and so is the audience poll.

After all, that is one of the USPs of the show.

What sort of changes have you made to the shoot process, considering the current pandemic situation?

There is nothing that has changed since last year; that was our test run as we were shooting in the midst of the pandemic.

The only difference, this time, is that the audience is back.

We have ensured that everybody who comes onto the set is vaccinated. RT-PCR tests are done, antigen tests are done; everybody is tested on a daily basis.

Social distancing is strictly maintained. We all wear our masks.

The audience is watching from a distance.

We’ve got bucket seats for them. They’re seated in an appropriate manner so that there is zero interactivity among them.

Last year, when we were shooting amid the pandemic, we were very lucky that we didn’t have a single case, unlike other shows.

This year too we’re hoping it will be the same.

  IMAGE: Amitabh Bachchan promotes KBC, Season 13.

Considering Amitabh Bachchan is almost 79, is the unit following any special Covid-related precautions as far as he is concerned?

Yes, we have to. He is extra fragile.

Mr Bachchan is the most protected personality on the set. He has a separate entry-exit door, which we introduced last year.

He is always up and running and a super fit man, but we want to be extra cautious. We don’t want anything to go wrong because of us.

His rooms are isolated. Even if the team wants to chat with him or brief him, we do it through a glass screen.

He’s completely guarded. All Covid practices, including social distancing, are in place.

Is it difficult to shoot in this ‘new normal’?

I won’t deny it. It is suffocating. It is difficult.

But, as they say, life has to move on. This is the new normal and we have gotten used to it now, but it is uncomfortable.

We all crib. We don’t like the partitions in between us. Even when the team is having lunch together, there are partitions on our tables.

We can’t have interactions with our fellow crew members.

But all these precautions are for our safety.

We are hoping this will go away soon. Most of us are double-vaccinated. I am. So is Mr Bachchan. And many people in our crew. But we are still taking all the precautions that are required.

Amitabh Bachchan is known to be a director’s delight. Are there any instances where you and he don’t agree and you have had to put your foot down?

Very rarely. He is a thorough professional and he has seen more Deepavalis than I have. He knows exactly (what needs to be done). He is a no-nonsense person. He trusts his director.

If I tell him, ‘Sir, we have to do this in this way,’ he does resist sometimes and say, ‘Why do you want to do it this way? Let’s continue to do it this way only.’

But if I reason it out well, he does agree and do what I say.

He does bully a lot. He will keep saying, ‘I won’t do it,’ but he still comes and does it during the take; that’s part of who he is. He is certainly a prankster. At the same time, he is a director’s delight.

You ask him to be at a certain mark and, even without seeing the mark directly, he hits it perfectly. That’s a great help to the cameraman as we shoot in a multi-camera set-up.

  IMAGE: Amitabh Bachchan on KBC.

When the show began, Amitabh Bachchan often spoke of being uncomfortable because, for the first time, he had to be himself on screen. How much has he changed as host over the years?

For Mr Bachchan, the beauty of KBC is that he gets to meet the common man. He gets to know their stories in their own words, gets their reactions instantly. That’s what makes it very special for him.

As a result, his energy has increased fourfold over the years. When we take a break of about 6-8 months between seasons, he’s looking forward to the next shoot.

We’ve all become like an extended family to him.

Apart from that, when it comes to work, he’s a professional and knows what he’s doing.

What has got added over the years is a lot of emotion on his part. He looks at KBC as his property and has become more personal.

He has started opening up a lot more. He started speaking a lot more. He has started sharing anecdotes.

When it started, KBC was purely a quiz show. When and why did you decide to focus more on the contestants’ backstories?

I deny this completely.

To be honest, you’re not the first one asking me this question.

KBC was originally a quiz show and will always be a quiz show. It’s a show where you can win money. It’s a show about sharing your knowledge. It’s also a show that entertains its audience not just with general knowledge questions but also by telling stories.

Over the years, television has evolved. There is so much content available in the market.

In KBC, we are just getting to know the contestants better. We are not telling them ‘Talk about this’ or ‘Do this’. They are doing it on their own.

They are asking Mr Bachchan their own questions and sharing their personal stories on their own. You know there is no structure to that.

What we are basically telling the viewers is that this is the person’s background, this is their life, they have reached the hot seat because of luck or hard work and they are here to win the game with their knowledge.

This is purely because we want the viewer to connect with the contestant, get associated with the contestant’s story and relate to it. It’s still the same plate that we are serving; probably, the items are arranged a little differently.

Is there anything that’s sacrosanct and will never change?

I think the uniqueness and the classic look of the show and the way that Mr Bachchan conducts it… that’s never going to change.

Those are the two strong pillars of the show.

The way he asks a question, the way he locks the answer, the way he looks into the eyes of the contestants… that’s all him. He owns it and we don’t want to ever change it.

Then, there’s the look of the show which is identified (everywhere).

I would like to give credit to the music of the show as well.

Even though we re-did it two years ago with Ajay-Atul, we retained the signature tune. We just added new instruments to it. It boomerangs and you associate yourself with that sound.

These three things will never change.

IMAGE: Amitabh Bachchan in the first season of KBC.

When KBC began in 2000, there was a boom in Indian television. Do you think television has changed since then? Have audiences grown with time?

Television is evolving. There is so much competition that everybody, including the viewers, is trying out different things.

Due to restrictions during the pandemic, there was a point in time when television shows had to take a break and were not able to shoot. So many viewers moved to OTT platforms.

But television has its own unique appeal. People did come back to watching their daily soaps and their non-fiction shows. The TRPs are saying it all.

Yes, viewers do like newer things but they like their old favourites as well. How much we evolve, the core has to be maintained. And if the core is right, the extra frills really don’t matter to the viewers.

I’m saying this from experience.

This is what I’ve noticed in my 22-year stint in television — the core must be the same. It does not disturb the viewer when you add or subtract frills. But the moment you start changing your core drastically, it puts off the viewers. People tend to switch channels then.

Lastly, you’ve worked on some of the biggest non-fiction shows. What does it take for a show to become popular?

A lot of hard work.

Whenever my friends, relatives or acquaintances return from watching a shoot on the sets, the first thing they say is, ‘Oh, it just takes half a second to switch channels if you don’t like something, but there’s so much hard work that goes behind putting this up.’

There’s a lot of hard work that goes into the making of a show. Don’t judge a show in the first 30 seconds. We are trying our best to entertain our viewers with the best entertainment, information and knowledge.

There’s a lot of pain involved. Then, there’s also luck.

We don’t make KBC, the contestants make the show. They make it interesting. That’s why every episode is so different. And every season is so different.

. Source link

[ad-smr]

when I talked about 2020

I described 2020 as a year full of plot twist moments that, in the end, made me questioning my wants, my will, and my heart more in the end. Some things still considerably not twisted, for instance : graduated with MSc. However, this year is so... well, I can tell you the full story here.

1. Worked my master thesis in a company : as my dream, but...

After long and hopeless efforts, not added being pressured by the facts that the flatmate got bunch of master thesis interviews in a week and I was rejected by a company due to the language barriers, I finally got a topic for my master thesis in December 2019. I started working on the topic in January 2020 and expected to finalize it on June 2020 - the normal scheme. The topic itself is not really that interesting for me, at first, since I was projecting myself to work on a smart city issues instead of... e-scooter. But then during the process, I learned many things that I find so fascinating. Not being added the supportive supervisors, especially from the company side. I also enjoyed the experience of having my own space for work in the office and the free flow coffee. Even though I did not sit on the same floor with the other employees, I still found it fascinating when I could see any researchers from different department (and subject!) worked so dedicated on their own project. And sometimes, a fika conversation with those people (even though I have a tendency to avoid conversation with strangers)

Then plot twist happened...

The corona-things happened and it made us harder to go to the office. We need to familiarize ourself with the concept of work from home, which is for me, never worked. I also found a delay on my research since it was almost impossible to see people went outside in Stockholm due to the COVID-phobia. I could not manage to go to the office until the end of summer and when the opportunity to go back to the office came, surprise-surprise... the whole floor was empty. There were not even a single furniture left in the floor. I found it later that the other department moved their office to another building of KTH and it means, the only active room in the floor was mine. Uh oh, and not being added the fact that my other classmate that worked on the same topic also went back to the UK since the first outbreak of COVID-19 hit Europe. It means.... I am being alone for almost four months.

It made me realized later that no matter how much I hate social interaction, I always need someone to talk to while working. I enjoy talking to people in the middle of the working hours, just to discuss about what types of sunblock that is worth to try on the Scandinavian weather. It also made me remembering my old days in the old office in Indonesia where I used to have the most compatible gang for office gossips during a those hard (but lovely) times. 

Well, well.. I survived this once, but, could I handle it more ?

2. Suspected to be infected by COVID-19, but...

I was in the Netherlands when the first case of COVID-19 was identified both in the Netherlands and in Sweden around the end of February. I discussed with my friend about it and we believed that corona was just happening in China, which is far far away from Europe. I also remember that I already planned for an autumn holiday in the Netherlands and booked a ticket for stay there three weeks. After a very usual goodbye, because we believe that we will meet again in April, I went back to Stockholm with a very healthy mental. But not physically...

A week later, I found myself could not move my body for an inch from the bed since the morning till the night. I just found my body so tired, which was so peculiar. Ah, it must be because I forgot to take some pills after the period time. But then, another symptoms occurred. I got light fever every morning. Then, it went away and change into a dry cough during the evening. That was strange because I have no history of dry coughing for a lifetime (I always have a phlegm cough due to my allergy). I also lost appetite for several days.

However, due to so much chaos that also happened around the society outside my bedroom, I could not do anything except praying that I will not die. After two weeks, I slowly gained my energy and started to feel hungry after not eating anything for a day. Of course everybody was panicking but well, there were no proof that I was positively infected by this virus. I got an antibody test on June when the government finally provided a free public test for everyone. The result ? Negative. 

I wanted to believe that I never been infected with this virus but it turned out, I had too many moments where I was severely ill. A kind of illness that includes various symptoms of COVID. My circle also got infected one by one with this virus. However, the latest PCR test that I took also showed a negative result. I think this is one good thing for me during 2020, being immune to corona. 

3. Obsessed with research and decided to pursue PhD, but...

Due to the delayed that I faced during my thesis, I got many free times during the summer. While waited for a survey result, I had not much things to do during summer. With no summer vacations on the list (yes, another cancelled plan to Iceland), I had no other options than traveling through my browser. Then, a very brilliant idea flashed - applied for PhD position. I started to look for an opportunity on my own campus, which was currently has an opening on a smart city topic. An experience on applying to PhD position in Sweden also made me realized that.. almost 90 percent of PhD positions being offered has been reserved for someone. Ugh...

Slapped by this reality, I expand my application to another countries. Despite of a personal feeling that I want to leave Sweden, I also think that it would be nice if I could move to a specific place - let’s say Netherlands. But then, I was not the only one who think that. I got rejected by two campuses in the Netherlands, even though it was more because of a not suitable background to the project. Well, I also got rejected by UvA because of... I don’t know, inexperienced? Week by week then one day I got an e-mail from one of the university and they said that they want to have an interview with me. Started by a disbelief feeling, I went through all processes and by the end of July (not even finished with the master thesis!) got accepted to one of the PhD program. Guess where? Estonia!

In what right mind that I looked for a place that has more extreme weather then Sweden?

It is what it is.. Here I am in Estonia, waiting for a new semester comes while contemplating that is this a right choice that I made, at least, for now?

4. Optimistically going back to Indonesia after study, but...

Here I am in another part of northern Europe. 

I remember that in one day during summer, I had a light conversation with my flatmate about our time after graduating. I, with my realistic mind, said to him that I will go back to Indonesia and looked for a job in Jakarta. It was based on a fact that I did not mastering the local language, which is a mandatory for people working on a social science field, and it would be easier to find a job where I could speak the local language fluently. I also believed that at least, I will go back to work in my old office. Not really a bad plan though...

But then, twisted. He, with an excellence track record with several Swedish companies and IT background, was the one who go back to Indonesia. And me, as explained before, got an opportunity to stay longer in the land of Europe. What a joke! 

5. Decided to be just friend with him, but...

We can’t. 

As you know that we made so many errors in our friendship for the past two years, including an affair and countless fights and another affair, I (at least) could not stand to being in a friendship with him. We already built too many emotional attachments that, during our time in Stockholm, made us hard to stay away from each other. The longest fight that we had was for two months and, honestly.. it was killing me. However, I hated him that much and I assured that being in a silent mode with him would make us easier to last our friendship, at least until we separated life. 

Then it was his birthday. And no one remembered it. And I was not cruel enough to be one of them. So, I sent him a birthday chat and... we were back in a normal relationship again.

I knew that we should not start over again because, yes, it caused another error in our relationship. This one, too much. Later on, I decided to cut up my relationship with another person since I did not want him to know (or as simple as realized) what happened. I also didn’t have enough guts to tell him everything. Including the fact that I am no longer like him that much. Well, I guess now it’s a time for me to befriended myself again.

Oh, what a year.

[iamgreatchen]

Blind Faith vs Bold Faith (plus a legit COVID testing “hack”)

I started having a really bad sore throat upon waking up last 11.11 (was it because I didn't check out anything from my cart?? haha). The sore throat progressed to terrible colds (I consumed 6 rolls of tissue in 2 days) and then on the 4th or 5th day, I started coughing, too. There were also some feverish moments on the 3rd or 4th night, although my temp never went beyond 37.3

Moments like these humble me, I'm usually the one who gets asked to pray for others, but this time I "bothered" all my elders and trusted intercessors to please please pray for me!!

Luckily, I never really lost my sense of smell and taste and also didn't experience shortness of breath, the whole time. If I did, I would've gone straight to getting a swab test.

On the 6th day I also decided to consult with my ENT doctor friend and she gave me lots of OTC meds that gave so much relief! Superthanks, Doc Nina!

Come the 7th day, my sister started sniffing, too.  She stayed in bed the whole day, temp at around 37.5 and started having chills.

Now I'm worried. At first I was confident it was just my almost-annual pre-Christmas flu, but now that I seem to have caused another person's infection-- I have the social responsibility to verify if I am already a public health threat.

So ok, for everybody's peace of mind, I should just get myself tested.

But oh, wait a minute, what if I really have it but I just don't have it as bad as others? And my sister is having it worse? What if I'm a mild COVID case? But in my heart of hearts and between me and my God, I'm confident that I don't have it! But what if I do? 

As both sides wrestle in my mind, I felt like God was entrusting with me the wisdom to choose between blind and bold faith.

Blind faith would refuse to get herself tested out of sheer, EXTREME faith the she doesn't have it.

Bold faith is facing the worst possible scenario in the eye with SOLID faith that even if the test turns out positive anyways, God will still carry me through.

Today, grace caused me to choose bold faith.

After deciding that I will take a COVID test, the next concern now is which, where and how much.

I don't believe in the accuracy of rapid tests, but I also don't want to spend at least 5,000 for a swab test which I really feel will only turn out to be negative.

So I researched and researched. The swab testing center of our LGU doesn't respond to my queries on how to book and I also can't find sufficient info about how the patients are handled etc.

While I was searching for drive thru covid tests, I saw Manila City's FREE drive thru serology test at the Quirino Grandstand which is open to ALL (yes, even non-Manila residents). FREE. OPEN TO ALL. DRIVE THRU. Not rapid test. But also not swab test.

What they do is called "Serology Testing". It's basically a blood test that can detect if a person has antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

CDC, FDA and WHO state that it has 99.6% accuracy. Way better than rapid test (my blood sample will still be taken to a lab and not just dropped on a piece of paper) and getting blood extraction behind my elbow is also way better than getting a deep poke in my nose, haha!

The health authority websites that I checked mention that it's best taken by those who have the symptoms already or are now recovering (same time when your body is already developing antibodies for whatever infection it is that you're going through)-- so it's perfect for me!

If you turn out positive from a serology test, then that's when you will be advised to take the RT PCR swab test to verify if it's really the corona virus that the detected new antibodies are fighting.

Fair enough. I'll only have to spend 5k on swab test if this FREE test by Yorme compels me to.

I left the house at around 8am. Got there in a little over an hour-- thanks to the NLEX-Manila port connection. When I arrived, there's only 1 car ahead of me.

I was handed a (1) form to fill up, then they took a picture of my form together with my (2) government ID, extracted (3) blood from my arm, asked me to take a photo of the results releasing process, and DONE! All in exactly 10 minutes!

The process says that I will receive an SMS within 24 hours. Before 9pm this evening (that's only 11 hours after my blood extraction! You are impressing me too much, Manila City government!!), I got the text...

It said:

"Magandang araw po. Ang resulta ng inyong examination mula sa Manila Drive Thru Covid-19 Testing Center ay NEGATIVE IgM. Ito po ay nangangahulugan na kayo ay hindi infected ng COVID19 sa araw ng examination...."

No lines, no exposure to other hospital patients, took only 10 minutes, FREE, all staff are friendly, got the results within the day-- what more could I ask for?? what a hack that really is!!

I don't like it that I had flu (who does??) and that it gave me and my family a covid-scare. But if I had to go through it to be right here where I am now in my faith journey-- to be poor in spirit, to feel like a walking miracle, to have a second chance at life, to love my smell and taste buds to a whole new level, to recognize in a deep deep sense how it's really His breath in our lungs and so I can't but pour out my praise to Him only, to be a beacon of bold faith for others, if this entire ordeal pleased and gave glory to the Lord, then it was a shot worth taking. 💪

[lazyvector]

We are (almost) six months into the pandemic

and I am most definitely not okay.

I just wanted to place all my thoughts regarding my experience with the lockdown here in the Philippines, and how my mental health has reached its deepest, downwards slope.

Let’s start with the basics. Is it the masses’ fault that the numbers keep on rising?

Sometimes it’s a yes, sometimes it’s a no.

The Philippine Government has been ‘doing some things’ in order to ‘neutralize the situation’, which basically means that they’re treating the pandemic as if it was an actual, tangible enemy. Like criminals, the government treats the pandemic as if they could just shoot it, or lock it behind bars. But the virus is more than just a criminal. The virus is a damn virus that needs to be treated as an illness, and not an actual human being that you can just put into jail. So, we can definitely say that the Philippines isn’t handling the situation well. This article from The Diplomat narrates how this pandemic was poorly handled. It’s a good read while I wait for twenty minutes before I can shower, because I just had a very painful at-home workout session.

However, this doesn’t mean that everything is wrong. WHO has been helping the Philippine government in responding to the rising cases, in which an article can be found here. Influential people have started startup funds and outreach programs to those severely affected by the pandemic. Celebrities are giving away tablets and pocket wifis to less fortunate students so they can be armed with the right tools to be able to continue their education. All-in-all, despite all the wrongs, there are some things that everyone has done right.

But whose fault is it?

I still see some people posting Instagram stories of going outside, eating samgyupsal and going to Starbucks as if the pandemic isn’t happening. They’re unmasked, face shields on the table as they eat their meals. I’m sure that the preparation stages of these meals were sanitary and satisfactory based on the WHO standard, but seeing these makes me realize that I think we aren’t taking this pandemic seriously. Despite the frontliners’ pleas for us to stay at home, there are still people who choose to go outside leisurely, as if this is just a fad, as if this is just some sort of bird flu that will go away in the next few months.

But COVID-19 just doesn’t go away without an actual plan of action. COVID-19 goes away when people band together to stay at home, to follow safety procedures, and for the leaders to begin actually testing out everyone and to do serious contact tracing so we can prevent further spread of the virus.

So, I personally think that one way or another, we’re all at fault. I guess it’s just the matter of what do we do now?

How bad is it there in the Philippines?

I really can’t tell. I’ve had friends from other countries ask me how I am and all I could answer was “I’m alive.” That’s basically how I feel. I’m very thankful that I’m still alive. I’m thankful for still being employed, still being able to pay for my bills and to buy groceries for my family, despite my expenses being higher due to having to pay for my rising electricity bills for staying at home. There’s just this weird feeling that this will really not end, because every time I open my social media, especially Twitter and Facebook, it’s just news of the cases rising, or news of people dying because of this virus.

I know it’s bad to compare our country to, say, New Zealand, because New Zealand has a different economic status than the Philippines. They can afford to contact trace, they can afford to have a lockdown and just scrape the tip of the iceberg of their national economy without really breaking its ice. They managed to really squash out the virus from their country and these factors play to their success.

But also, because they responded fast. Because they took the virus seriously.

And it’s so unfair, because that’s also how I feel right now - I feel like we aren’t taking this seriously, to the point where I wake up and just feel that there isn’t any point in all of this any more. Like I could just go out and not wear a mask and infect everyone I come in contact with and it wouldn’t matter - but the truth is, I don’t really wanna do that. I wanna stay at home because staying home means I get to save lives. Even if a friend invited me to come with him to a tattoo shop so I can watch him get inked, and even if I could just easily go to a mall to walk around like it’s still normal. I take this seriously because I had a friend who got intubated and it traumatized the shit out of me. It’s so scary, to have a friend that’s fighting for her life while you just wait for news, helpless.

I’m just so tired of people that don’t take this seriously. They go to parties, and they go to places where they shouldn’t be. They don’t care.

It’s unfair, because I care. And if I start to not care, I become the enemy.

On Rapid tests and PCRs

I’ve attended a few webinars into this pandemic and the one thing that every webinar has told me is that rapid tests are not as accurate.

This article from the Springfield News Sun narrates how PCR tests are much more accurate in actual COVID results, but they don’t single it out; they say that rapid tests are also helpful in a way. On rapid tests, they say:

This method of testing is nearly immediate, which lets contact tracing start sooner with a virus where time is of the essence. When there’s a positive test result received quickly, it raises the likelihood that an infectious person can be isolated before they get a lot of other people sick.

So if there’s a place where a suspected COVID case is living, they can first do a rapid test to see if people turn out to be positive. And since rapid tests are, well, rapid, they can know for sure within the day if people need to move on to the swab test, which is a much more accurate way of telling if people are COVID 19 Positive.

Another article from ABS-CBN News interviewed a couple of medical professionals on the use of rapid tests in determining whether or not a person is positive to COVID 19. (Take note: I’ll be translating the excerpt in English, but you can read the Filipino version in the link).

“It doesn’t mean that when you get a negative result [in the rapid test] that you don’t actually have an infection. The chance of being negative is 50 percent even if you’ve already been infected. So the problem here is that even if you have an infection, because you resulted negative, people will be happy to hear that, not knowing that you’ve already been infecting people you’ve come in contact with.” - Dr. Maricar Limpin, vice president of the Philippine College of Physicians.

She added that even the World Health Organization does not recommend the use of rapid anti-body test to diagnose COVID-19. 

Here is another article I’ll be sharing, from One News PH. It’s stated here that medical groups are largely opposing the use of rapid tests as a requirement to return to work. As testing kits become available, employers tend to not read into the actual instructions and to just see that rapid tests are faster and cheaper than PCR tests. I’ve seen this actually happen - people mass-hoarding rapid test kits for their employees just so that they can safely say that their employees have a “negative result”.

There is no such thing as a better rapid test kit, or a much more accurate rapid test kit. There is just a rapid test, and a PCR test, and that’s it.

And, it’s either you have the virus, or you don’t - and that’s the sad part about everything.

So, what now?

I really don’t know. I’ve been stuck here, trying to get my life together by working out and practicing social distancing even here, at home. Which isn’t healthy, by the way, but I really don’t feel like I want to talk to anyone right now, especially if these people aren’t taking the virus seriously. I don’t want to repeat myself over, and over, and over again, but I feel like the problem with how this country handles the pandemic is that most of us feel like “the COVID thing” isn’t that serious.

We can see it in the news, and in people going out for leisure, that just because the quarantine’s lifted does not really give anyone the right to just go from place to place, while not following actual procedures for safety. People think that it’s okay to focus on other things, like taking down a large multimedia company just because your feelings got hurt, or passing a law that has nothing to do with the virus despite WHO urging all governments to take the virus seriously and tackle this issue in such a way that would save the lives of people.

Unfortunately, in almost six months that I’ve been stuck here at home, I’ve yet to see progress in how this thing could be better.

And honestly? I’m already expecting the worse.

I have no hope anymore. I have no hope, and that’s it. I just have to say it - I think we’re all going to die, and whose fault is that?

I’ll leave the question open.

[wtfmarj]

i dont think any of my friends and those who personally know me are here so im spilling my guts. last monday i got tested for COVID-19 via rapid test at work and i was igG positive the first try, the doctor wanted to make sure so she tested me twice. turns out igG positive and slight postive for igM. it means i have contracted the virus without my knowledge. i just remember having a runny nose and was coughing and had a slight breathing problem last two weeks ago but for me its just normal, i have asthma. i wouldn't know the difference of when i have contracted the virus. i was always out of breath anyway. yesterday, i went to the hospital to be get tested again, this time via RT PCR, the swab test. it was uncomfortable. its the kind of uncomfortable you wouldn't want to feel again. now i am waiting for the result. i am anxious. i am scared. i cant think of anything. what if im positive? what if i spread it to the people around me? i am worried of the aftermath, the glance i might get at work, because heck this isnt a confidential matter anyway. i dont care where i got this from anymore, what i want for my peace of mind is that those people around me not getting it from me. i am accessing myself, do i feel weird in any way, is the pain i am feeling on my belly normal? is it because of covid? am i going to be hospitalized? man i dont have savings, yet! am i going to die? if so i hope its painless and not a financial burden to my family. i hope to die peacefully please.

[keywestlou]

WE'RE CLOTHED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

The operative word in the title is “clothed.”

Key West is closed down. Duval dead!

One of Key West’s famous gentleman’s clubs is The Red Garter on Duval. A strip joint with class. There is a large sign in its window: Sorry…..We’re Clothed Until Further Notice.

A delicate touch! A Key West one!

Florida’s Governor De Santis is one of the country’s worst governors in my opinion. A Donald Trump in disguise. He dances to every Trump tune.

De Santis gave local authorities permission to open the beaches. Jacksonville did. People showed up in large numbers. I wonder how many new coronavirus cases there will be in the Jacksonville area in 4-6 weeks.

Key West is in Monroe County. All the Keys are located in Monroe County.

Keys local authorities have decided to play it safe. Keys beaches will remain closed. No open ’em up date has been scheduled.

Keys people are sensitive to the virus. The  Keys suffer enough from hurricanes. Damage from 2017 Irma not yet totally remedied. People still living under tarpaulins. No stoves. No toilet facilities.

The blockade at the entrance to the Keys remains. Non-residents are not permitted to enter the Keys.

Better safe than sorry.

Key West is the southernmost point in the U.S. News travels fast in modern times. There was a time when it was not so.

Abraham Lincoln died on April 15, 1865. It took 6 days for the news of his death to reach Key West.

Governor De Santis announced Florida expects to receive 100,000 test kits for coronavirus antibodies this week.

Seeing is believing!

While Trump was campaigning in 2016, he said he was going to Washington to “drain the swamp.” Didn’t work that way. The swamp is draining Washington and all of the U.S.

I mentioned a couple of days ago that the U.S. was on the verge of becoming a feudalistic society. A significant number of comments. Including cell phone and e-mail.

Some agreed, some not. More not. I thought perhaps I did not express myself clearly enough. Feudalism today was a new concept. I read it nowhere. It was born in my mind.

I now have company!

Paul Craig Roberts is a blog writer. His blog: PCR Institute For Political Economy. His most recent blog: “Are We Becoming A New Feudalism? The Economy Is Being Destroyed.”

His answer: “Yes.”

Our thought processes generally similar, though different in certain respects. I do not totally agree with Roberts nor he I. Though on the significant point we do: The U.S. is becoming a feudalistic society.

Roberts wrote (emphasis mine): “The LARGE BAILED OUT CREDITORS will end up with the property of the NON-BAILED-OUT DEBTORS who are BEING PUSHED DEEPER INTO DEBT with ‘bail-out loans’ and fess and penalties for missed debt payments. WRITE-OFFS FOR THE ONE PERCENT, and MORE INDEBTEDNESS FOR EVERYONE ELSE…..Break up the banks ‘too big to fail’ and return corporations from Asia to the United States a solution.”

Roberts’ final words: Time to dethrone the “elites.”

Oil companies are taking a beating. My heart bleeds for them. How sad.

Not really. As far as I am concerned, oil companies cannot hurt enough.

Oil prices are falling. Described at the moment as being below zero. First time ever.

Greed brought the oil companies to this point. Especially Russia and Saudi Arabia. They pumped and pumped. Money galore pouring in. Till each pumped too much.

The problem a simple one. So much oil has been pumped there is no place to store it. Not even huge tankers where normally excess is stored.

As a result, oil traders are paying other traders to take excess barrels off their hands. As much as $40 a barrel.

The scenario will end soon. The oil companies have seen the light. They are switching off their wells. Cheaper to leave it in the ground.

A second problem is contributing to the zero price situation. People are not buying gasoline for their cars as they once did. Most people world wide are confined to their homes because of coronavirus.

I have no sympathy re the problem of the oil companies for a couple of reasons. Each significant.

I recall when gasoline went to $4 a gallon. Twice in my lifetime. I recall when I had to wait in line for like 2 hours to get to a pump to buy gas. Hoping each time my car moved forward that the gasoline would not run out before I got there.

Finally, I am one of those that consider Saudi Arabia the master mind of 9/11. I forget the specific number. Something like 15 or 17 of those involved were citizens of Saudi Arabia.

Russia. I could also care less. They have been our “enemy” since the end of World War II. They have “hurt” us whenever they could. Especially under Putin.

David Winans is a leading oil figure. He says re the drop to a zero price, “Today’s price move feels like oil is passing a kidney stone.”

Good!

Trump was elected in 2016 because he figured out how to anger certain voters to support him. He is continuing this year to foment the anger of voters. The goal the same. Anger directed at the establishment. This year in the form of a “peaceful” rebellion against governors.

Trump is literally destroying the Presidency to guarantee his reelection.

The historical purpose of the Presidency was to unite the States, not further divide them. Trump’s encouragement against State stay-in-place orders is unpresidential and unbecoming a President.

Trump’s dislike of immigrants evidenced in the recent $2.3 trillion stimulus package. Quietly. Just coming out.

More than one million U.S. citizens are barred from recovering stimulus checks if their spouses are immigrants.

Tuesday again! My blog talk radio show tonight at 9: Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou.

Join me! The show is a quick half hour. Guaranteed not boring. I rant and rave about everything.

Little is happening in our country at the moment, except for Trump and coronavirus.. Therefore most of the show will be about Trump and coronavirus. The 2 most important topics on our plates at the moment. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

Enjoy your day!

  WE’RE CLOTHED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE was originally published on Key West Lou