Random Rants #88: [incoherent screaming]

[W|M]

She had a sit-down session with Adriana LaGrange (my MLA, who is the Minister of Education), and it was supposed to be a bit of theatre in which Hinshaw would totally confirm LaGrange's plans to reopen the schools as being completely safe and (in Kenney's words) "if the teachers tidy up a bit" - aka sanitize the hell out of everything at the end of the day even though that's the janitors' jobs, not theirs - there would be no instances of COVID happening in the schools.

It was pathetic. LaGrange talks tough; she has a peculiar hatred of the public school system, the Calgary Board of Education in particular, and keeps saying she's going to fire all of them. But ask her anything about how the health of kids and teachers will be affected by this insane back-to-school "plan" and she usually refers the questions to Hinshaw. She could only repeat political platitudes and talking points and sneer at the NDP recommendations to have classes of only 15 kids to maintain social distancing.

Ah, social distancing in schools. LaGrange has been on vacation lately, and recently posted photos of herself and her grandchildren shopping for school supplies at the local Walmart (the one near my home). LaGrange herself was wearing a mask. The kids weren't. And on social media she's been whining that there's not enough time or money to hire the extra teachers that would be needed if class sizes were reduced to 15 (down from 30+), and she hasn't had the time to look into using other spaces (the UCP has fewer math skills than I do; I can understand that you cannot socially distance 30 kids in a regular classroom if they all have to stay 2m apart from each other; the rooms just aren't big enough).

There are office towers in Calgary empty of tenants since the downturn that happened before the pandemic. There are empty retail spaces in malls that could easily accommodate students. Yet LaGrange has had 5 months to investigate all this and whines that she hasn't had enough time.

And then people got stupid. Flocking to the beach at Sylvan Lake, or at other lakes, gathering in protests and prayer meetings... we had been patting ourselves on the back for "flattening the curve" but it's no longer flat. After the schools open, I plan to stay very far away from the kids in this building.

Rave: My wife has been working from home with me as the governor ordered all the schools in high-Covid areas to go to online-only instruction.

the governor of Rio de Janeiro state - who is under impeachment proceedings for corruption - announced this week that schools would not be re-opening in september. a couple days later, he announced that schools would instead re-open at the start of october (despite the school year here corresponding to the calendar year), so the teacher's union immediately announced a strike so as to not endanger everyone's lives

 

[Synobun]

Which is why we have pills.

On a more serious note why is it unreasonable? If you are already screwed and you know it why not do your best to try and make the best of what you have left? That's actually quite the reasonable suggestion to make. Sure it ain't going to be easy. But it beats wasting what little is left of your existence wallowing in how screwed you are.

You may wish to try your hand at extended suffering before you make "reasonable suggestions" like this. Well, actually, you shouldn't try that, but you could likely be better off taking sufferers at their word rather than thinking you know better than they do about their own experiences. Chronic or terminal illness isn't simply a label wherein any suffering is purely imposed by the mind. Some might like to call them physical symptoms (not to mention the subsequent mental symptoms), which have a clear and direct impact on quality of life and one's ability to function. You are not very capable of not "wasting what little is left of your existence" when every moment of every day is a stark, acute reminder of loss, pain, and dysfunction. It is not a question of willpower, no more than you can simply will yourself to cure the flu or mend a broken bone and get right back to business. Imagine the worst illness of your life, except permanent. It will never let up. In fact, it will only get worse. Nobody can help you. You will always feel this way. Then tell us about positive thinking and how it "ain't going to be easy" to plaster a smile on one's face and be happy about it.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

the governor of Rio de Janeiro state - who is under impeachment proceedings for corruption - announced this week that schools would not be re-opening in september. a couple days later, he announced that schools would instead re-open at the start of october (despite the school year here corresponding to the calendar year), so the teacher's union immediately announced a strike so as to not endanger everyone's lives

Related rant: Trump just classified teachers as essential workers to make it easier to force them to go to in-person classes. Thankfully our education system is largely state-run so he doesn't have that direct power and my governor is pretty awesome and has taken a lot of steps to protect teachers. Still, at the end of the day, Trump is giving ammunition to governors like the ones in Texas and Florida to force their teachers into unsafe conditions which they are already doing.

This whole 'essential worker' business is awful on so many levels. No one signed up to wait tables or mop floors in potentially lethal environments for $7.25 an hour but by being branded as essential, they have no recourse to take leave of work without losing income and what meager benefits they may get. Hell, while our doctors and nurses did sign up to work in potentially dangerous environments, they probably assumed they'd always have the PPE they need and not forced to don trash bags and saran wrap after the government failed to nationalize PPE supply lines in a bid to punish blue states. The conditions for our 'essential worker' food processors (farm workers, meat packers, etc) have been absolutely atrocious and that's the main reason why Moscow Mitch insists on lawsuit protections - some of his biggest donors are meat packing plants that have seen massive outbreaks due to lack of Covid protections as well as lots of new workplace injuries and deaths as government orders have allowed them to relax non-Covid related safety rules like how fast they are forced to pack meat.

Let that sink in - Moscow Mitch is willing to torpedo the entire economy by holding out on a stimulus bill all so he can give legal cover to employers who are literally (not figuratively) killing their work forces.

And the kicker? Every time I go to the grocery store there are still big shortages and empty shelves because our meat producers have been exporting food supplies to China and other countries to take advantage of record prices due to foreign food shortcomings. These companies asked for permission to lower safety regulations to 'ensure American food supplies' but in reality they are exporting our food.

It's like the goddamn Irish Potato Famine crossed with the Spanish Flu by way of the Great Depression and a heavy side of Kristallnacht because why the hell not? We're the richest country not on Earth but in the history of Earth and this is the best we can do? ~45% of people really here think this is all OK? I feel like we've lost our collective minds.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

You may wish to try your hand at extended suffering before you make "reasonable suggestions" like this. Well, actually, you shouldn't try that, but you could likely be better off taking sufferers at their word rather than thinking you know better than they do about their own experiences. Chronic or terminal illness isn't simply a label wherein any suffering is purely imposed by the mind. Some might like to call them physical symptoms (not to mention the subsequent mental symptoms), which have a clear and direct impact on quality of life and one's ability to function. You are not very capable of not "wasting what little is left of your existence" when every moment of every day is a stark, acute reminder of loss, pain, and dysfunction. It is not a question of willpower, no more than you can simply will yourself to cure the flu or mend a broken bone and get right back to business. Imagine the worst illness of your life, except permanent. It will never let up. In fact, it will only get worse. Nobody can help you. You will always feel this way. Then tell us about positive thinking and how it "ain't going to be easy" to plaster a smile on one's face and be happy about it.

Are you saying it is easy? I am confused now. I mean, your entire lecture only serves to underline my point that it is in fact not easy at all.

 

[Synobun]

Are you saying it is easy? I am confused now. I mean, your entire lecture only serves to underline my point that it is in fact not easy at all.

It takes effort to be this willfully obtuse. However, I must thank you for making the value of your perspective clear. I will act accordingly from here on.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

It takes effort to be this willfully obtuse. However, I must thank you for making the value of your perspective clear. I will act accordingly from here on.

And now you genuinely lost me.

Either way, you are a staff member or as close to it that it does not matter. And I feel uncomfortable debating anything with someone in your position given my experiences on this forum in the past. So let's just break things off here.

 

[Snerk]

Health has been kinda crappy this last month or so. That's partly why I've been very little active here for a while now, no time or energy. Anyway so semester start is being kinda brutal to me these days. I'm struggling with finding energy to keep up with all the stuff so I feel I'm falling behind and it stresses me out. I'm used to this routine though, my chronic health issues gives me spells, long and short, of worse and better. And by the end things usually end up fine and I get the stuff done. But it still sucks and I really need the pendulum to swing back now so I can get my crap done and generally not feel like a rotten sack of potatoes.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Health has been kinda crappy this last month or so. That's partly why I've been very little active here for a while now, no time or energy. Anyway so semester start is being kinda brutal to me these days. I'm struggling with finding energy to keep up with all the stuff so I feel I'm falling behind and it stresses me out. I'm used to this routine though, my chronic health issues gives me spells, long and short, of worse and better. And by the end things usually end up fine and I get the stuff done. But it still sucks and I really need the pendulum to swing back now so I can get my crap done and generally not feel like a rotten sack of potatoes.

Here's hoping you can rally!

 

[Kyriakos]

And now you genuinely lost me.

Either way, you are a staff member or as close to it that it does not matter. And I feel uncomfortable debating anything with someone in your position given my experiences on this forum in the past. So let's just break things off here.

Synsensa the Gray is no longer a moderator and thus has no power here
So he can (and should) be treated as any other poster.
The natural enemies of the proletariat are the active members of the mod party.

 

[Synobun]

Synsensa the Gray is no longer a moderator and thus has no power here
So he can (and should) be treated as any other poster.

Worse, probably.

 

[Kyriakos]

^No.

 

[Tee Kay]

Been having severe insomnia/interrupted sleep and difficulty breathing (have to breathe manually or I feel like I'm suffocating) for a few days now.

Strongly suspect it to be a side effect of going back onto antidepressants which would be a shame since it really helped with my mood swings.

I had a good heart-to-heart with my partner last night because of it though so it's not all bad

 

[Takhisis]

So yesterday, besides being my only working day (·#@%&ing cento-soixantine!!!), I managed to arrive home to see a lot of spare parts, disassembled appliances, tools, materials, etc. lying about.

Then I heard the dreaded words: ‘Great! You arrive just in time!’

The never-ending cycle of home repairs.

Worse, probably.

My services are needed?

 

[Cutlass]

Has anyone ever used superglue without getting it on things you don't want it on, mostly your fingers?

 

[Takhisis]

I have. Not Superglue™-brand glue, but the same formula. It's basically decided by an RNG.

 

[cardgame]

I don't know how but I lost my debit card :/ now have to get a new one shipped from Idaho

 

[Zkribbler]

I don't know how but I lost my debit card :/ now have to get a new one shipped from Idaho

I hope you've cancelled the lost one.

 

[Takhisis]

^I was thinking exactly what Zkribbler said.

Rant: 157 days of shutdown, no end in sight.

 

[amadeus]

Can I call it a shutdown if almost nothing is shut down except for myself? I still have to go to work, but my leisurely outings have been suspended for about five months now.

Summer heat is doing the most damage right now. Too hot to walk anywhere even outside, and I’ve been around my neighborhood 100 times already.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Rant: I vacuumed my bedroom. My cat waited until I was done and then vomited on the floor.