Corona virus, what's different for you.

Discussion in 'The Red Room' started by ed629, Mar 22, 2020.

  1. Tuckerfan

    Tuckerfan BMF

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    It's something like that, however, I know that pilots don't always follow this rule as a number of them have been busted for trying to fly while still drunk. I don't know if pilots are routinely tested before they go to fly a commercial plane or not. But I believe that Marso's a charter pilot and he might not be subjected to such tests (if they're done) or be at risk of being reported by other pilots for violating the rule.
  2. Bickendan

    Bickendan Custom Title Administrator Faceless Mook Writer

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    Think about what regarding a virus discovered in 2019?
    Very unlikely. It'll still be Covid-19.
    Sure, if a new Coronavirus is discovered in 2030 or 2050.
    Classification/scientific name that the public at large actually learned.
    Sudden Acquired Respitory Syndrome?
    I see your Bird Flu and raise you a pox.
    And which caste do you hope to find yourself within, Winston, the hedonistic Alphas or the drudging Deltas or Epsilons? :chris:
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  3. Bailey

    Bailey It's always Christmas Eve Super Moderator

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    In the real world black people.are telling lots of stories of problems that need fixing, and the fact you dismiss them as not actually that bad says you should be getting out there to hear them yourself.
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  4. Elwood

    Elwood I know what I'm about, son.

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    I've known or been acquainted with 15-20 people that died from COVID. The closest and most recent was a friend 54 (diabetic) last night. I got the call from the Hospital as Chaplain on-call. That's why I'm still up at 0442 local.
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  5. Elwood

    Elwood I know what I'm about, son.

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    The US Navy said at least 13 sailors caught it...again...after having it once.

    https://www.npr.org/sections/corona...velt-sailors-test-positive-for-covid-19-again
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  6. Forbin

    Forbin Do you feel fluffy, punk?

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    This was the year we in NJ are supposed to go get the "real ID" drivers licenses - TSA will stop accepting regular NJ licenses in Oct. and we'd need them so we can keep flying down to visit Mom.
    The local DMV has been closed, not that I feel like going there anyway in these times. And of course United has cut back so they no longer have direct flights from EWR to Greenville. Aaand who the fuck want's to be on a plane during a respiratory plague? Mom turns 90 in July. I guess I'll just call. I hope she sticks around another year so I can hug her again. :/
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  7. Marso

    Marso High speed, low drag.

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    The FAA rule on alcohol is 8 hours, and the BAC limit is .04- a much lower threshold than driving. If you get randomed, however, you better blow a big fat goose egg or you are going to have serious problems.

    Most companies have more stringent rules in terms of hours- 12 is pretty much the industry standard. And again, if you are randomed and blow above the limit, that's pretty much instant termination. Between zero and the limit, it varies by company but almost always includes being taken off-line for some sort of rehab deal.

    Someone in an above post was unsure if the same rules apply to charter flying as airline flying- they actually apply to ALL types of flying, right down to a guy with a private ticket going out bugsmashing in his experimental. Commercial pilots of every kind are subject to the DOT rules for random drug and alcohol screening, so we can be pulled aside and tested any time we are on duty, and frequently are.

    Now that I'm in my 50's I don't drink nearly as much as I used to, and very seldom on the road any more- usually only at training when I'm hanging out with a pack of other pilots. In the Navy, the rule was 12 hours and I've always stuck to that even at times I was legally allowed a smaller window, like the 8-hour FAA rule.

    The other thing I'm hyper-vigilant about is drinking and driving. Once the first drop passes my lips, I'm either a pedestrian or riding a taxi or uber. None of that "I only had one, I'm okay" BS. I treat driving the way I do flying: if I can't blow a flat zero on a breathalyzer, then it's out of bounds. These personal rules and limits have served me very well over thirty years of military and commercial flying, and of course, driving.

    And the problem children are out there. Usually a couple of times a year, you'll see in the news about a pilot somewhere getting busted for showing up to work under the influence. And, pilots being a cross-section of society as a whole, you usually never even hear about the the very few each year that are bagged on random drug checks for hard stuff like narcotics. Those people are out there too. :bergman:
    Last edited: Jun 27, 2020
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  8. Marso

    Marso High speed, low drag.

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    If you have a current passport you can use that instead of a star card. It's just a bit more of a hassle having to drag it out and keep track of it.
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  9. Marso

    Marso High speed, low drag.

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    As an aside to that article, I was reading on the USNI website the other day that the decision has been made to NOT reinstate Captain Crozier as CO of the Teddy Roosevelt. I am very much unsurprised by the decision, because reversing it would be an admission on the part of Big Navy that they were wrong in the first place, and the one thing we all know is that no matter how weak they might be on being right, Big Navy is Never Wrong.

    Also, it would have set a new and not-necessarily good precedent. Once the Navy relieves you of command for any reason, that's all she wrote. Career done.
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  10. Tuckerfan

    Tuckerfan BMF

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    Idiots in my town have decided to commit mass suicide, it seems.

    9064F9CF-B200-4AED-A123-237510414FD9.jpeg

    That’s the high school graduation they held yesterday. I don’t know how many people went, but I know that gym can hold thousands of people. Given how few people in this town wear masks, I suspect we’re going to have a massive spike in cases shortly.

    Oh, and work announced that they’re cutting our hazard pay in half next month.
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  11. Jenee

    Jenee Driver 8

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    Why not just drive?
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  12. Forbin

    Forbin Do you feel fluffy, punk?

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    "Just" drive 900 miles. Yeah. No.
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  13. steve2^4

    steve2^4 Aged Meat

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    Greenville SC is 700. NC is 400.

    Get in the car and go.

    900 with 2 drivers is an easy day. You're retired, take 2 days.
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  14. Jenee

    Jenee Driver 8

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    Pfft. I drive that every couple months.
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  15. Tererune

    Tererune Troll princess and Magical Girl

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    Take the train then. 900 miles is a nice day trip for me driving, but I can get why people do not like to do it. I normally split a trip like that up and get a hotel room and do the last few hours on the next day.

    The train ends up being a great way to do that sort of mileage and it actually takes less time when you consider having to show up early and deal with stopovers. It is less money, and you get to your destination ready to go rather than the problems with flying. You did not get any scans, you did not have to take off your ahoes, you have a comfortable seat that reclines, you can drink until you are plowed, you can get up when you want, you have smoke breaks, you can see the countryside, and the people are often happy go lucky and fun to talk with instead of needled and prodded until homicidal. Not to mention if there is a crash you have a chance to survive instead of being a charred bloody smear. Of course, with covid the car is probably safer than being in a train car.

    Fuck you covid for ruining another thing.
  16. Tererune

    Tererune Troll princess and Magical Girl

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    Not everyone is able to long distance drive, but for those who are it is cheaper and better than the flight. with the modern regulations on luggage on flights I don't even want to touch them.
  17. Tuckerfan

    Tuckerfan BMF

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    The local hospital’s response.
    CE1D68F2-D295-4646-81ED-B08135FA3BCD.jpeg
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  18. Tererune

    Tererune Troll princess and Magical Girl

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    Maybe they were just going for an evolutionary response to COVID. If you kill off all the weak ones before they have children then perhaps you could breed immunity to the virus into the human race. I think this also shows parental desire to get rid of their offspring. I just want to be able to look into the future when these kids grow up and ask their parents why they let them go into a large vat of COVID with no protection at all for the sole purpose of a pointless ceremony most did not care about to begin with.
  19. Tuckerfan

    Tuckerfan BMF

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    And one of my next-door neighbors is having a very large graduation party. :(
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  20. Steal Your Face

    Steal Your Face Anti-Federalist

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    It’s an eight hour drive from northern Virginia and I do it by myself. You can drive from NJ to S.C. with two people in what, twelve hours? If you split it up, you stop around the Virginia/NC border and it’s about six hours to Greenville. He could visit at less three of us WF’s along the way.
  21. Asyncritus

    Asyncritus Expert on everything

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    Easy? The most I have ever driven is about 800 miles in a day (I've done that at least three times, twice in the States and once over here) and that is already a very long day for me.
  22. Tererune

    Tererune Troll princess and Magical Girl

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    He said two drivers. If you have two people who can sleep for a time and do not need to talk and be up you can easily alternate shifts and do 900 miles.

    I would love to try the cannonball thing with a partner. I know we would not be winning as I am not looking to lose my license for speeding. I would love to try miami to seattle. The US is an awesome place for a long road escapade.
  23. steve2^4

    steve2^4 Aged Meat

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    I'm in. Might take a year in a Leaf though.
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  24. ed629

    ed629 Morally Inept Banned

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    When I lived in NY, I would drive solo from where I was living to my mom's home in Florida several times, straight through without stopping. It's a 1200 mile drive, generally would make it in about 18-19 hours. Also made the same drive with my brother, we'd take turns, also the same amount of time. But there was one time when we made the drive, and stopped in Atlanta to pick up my sister, that as closer to 1400 miles. That trip, we made it in... just under 15 hours. We were going a little fast. We'd stop just for gas, and pick up food at the same time, the gas stations we stopped at would have McDonalds or some other fast food place as part of the station. Or lacking that, we'd also just grab chips, candy, and drinks in he gas station. And coffee, lots of coffee.

    I'd guess the NY to FL trip, I probably made that drive about 6-7 times on my own, then with my brother about the same. And then from Atlanta to FL (mom's home) probably 40+ times. Half of them solo, half of them with my sister. That drive is 500 miles one way. Depending on time of day, and how lucky I would feel, that drive would take around 7 hours, sometime a little less. I think the fastest I made it was just over 5 hours.

    Amazingly, in all of those trips, only got pulled over one time. It was brother who got pulled over, 96 in a 65.
    Last edited: Jun 28, 2020
  25. Forbin

    Forbin Do you feel fluffy, punk?

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    My new neighbor had another BBQ with his buddies yesterday. Bunch of beefy, tattooed, ball-cap-wearing, bearded yahoos, gathered around his pickup like it was a religious icon, smoking, drinking beer and pissing on his lawn. No masks, no distancing. This is what the universe sent me as new neighbors one month after retirement, who I'm probably stuck with for life. Why do the Fates hate me??

    In good news, my comic shop has reopened for in-store pickup. The nice lady was wearing a plastic face shield, everybody else masks.
  26. ed629

    ed629 Morally Inept Banned

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    No masks, rednecks, worshipping the almighty Ford/Chevy/Dodge, IQ levels the same as the truck tire size, you may not have them for long.
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  27. Asyncritus

    Asyncritus Expert on everything

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    Wow! :shock:

    You're a more determined driver than I am, I must admit.
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  28. Elwood

    Elwood I know what I'm about, son.

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    Agreed. 900 miles is 18 hours at a leisurely pace. $60 in fuel (at today's prices) in my V8 4x4 truck, $150 for a hotel, and $60 for food. $270 one way for two people with at a nice, slow, stop-and-smell-the-roses pace. Sounds like a fun trip to me!

    @Forbin are you worried about running out of vacation time and having to be back or something?
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  29. matthunter

    matthunter Ice Bear

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    Superheroes understand the importance of masks.

    We need to start memes to convince the macho COVIDiots that masks make them superheroes OR luchadors.
  30. Asyncritus

    Asyncritus Expert on everything

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    Except Superman. For him, wearing glasses and combing his hair a little bit differently was enough. Of course no one could recognize him that way...